


where there is desire (there is bound to be a flame)

by puppyanimagus



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/F, F/M, Gen, So many tropes, The Story, an entire group of people conspire to make Alice and Robin realize they’re in love, don’t kinkshame me, everyone is in their twenties and early thirties unless I say otherwise because I’m the boss here, found family trope, this fic is essentially, this is a shameless excuse to imagine Robin in various versions of the firefighter uniform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-06-09 14:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15269472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppyanimagus/pseuds/puppyanimagus
Summary: “I keep setting my stove on fire and you’re the long-suffering firefighter on call AU”.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizardwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizardwriter/gifts).



> This started life as a one-shot for Liz’s birthday and to give me something to work on besides APL, based off the prompt in the summary and it...cannot safely be called a one-shot anymore. Even remotely. This got out of control on me ngl.

It’s not that Alice was bad at cooking, necessarily. It was just cooking could get tedious, and you had to stand there to make sure nothing went wrong, and her sketch pad had been sitting  _ right there _ .

That was the excuse she was sticking with as she sat on the stairs just outside her apartment door to get away from the blaring sound of the smoke alarm. She hadn’t even left the building. She heard it turn off on its own through the door behind her, but she knew she wasn’t out of the woods just yet. Her apartment building was the kind where if the alarm went off for a certain amount of time the fire department  _ had  _ to check it out. Which was embarrassing to the utmost. Her grilled cheese was already ruined. It was contained. Everyone could go about their night.

What wasn’t contained was her blush when she heard boots coming up the stairs towards her. She lifted her hands and started speaking before the firefighters even hit her landing.

“The grilled cheese is the only victim here, I promise,” she said. She pressed her face into her sketchbook, so she didn’t have to make eye contact. Someone snorted, and she peeked over the top and froze.

There were two firefighters on her steps, in theory. One of them was a guy. He was probably a perfectly nice guy. Symmetrical face, good bone structure, looked like he did his own laundry and called his mom every week. A nice, wholesome guy. It wasn’t his fault he was partnered with an actual, living goddess.

Alice hadn’t slept in something like eighteen hours. She was probably slightly hysterical. But that didn’t change that the woman standing in front of her, thumbs hooked into the belt loops of her dark khakis and top button undone on her standard issue Seattle FD polo, looked like someone pulled her directly out of one of those ridiculous firefighter calendars. Blonde hair a few shades darker than her own was braided back away from her face, but little strands still fell across her forehead and into pretty, pretty green eyes. Her full mouth was curved into a slightly mocking smile as she looked at Alice.

“You set fire to grilled cheese?” she asked, voice smooth and warm and no, Alice absolutely did not go lightheaded, thank you very much.

It was the exhaustion.

“The grilled cheese caught itself on fire,” Alice told her sternly, pointing her sketchbook in her direction for emphasis. “I was an innocent bystander. Besides, it was a small fire. Barely noticeable.”

The goddess’s partner chuckled. “Will you let us in to check out this small, barely noticeable fire?” he asked.

Alice smiled sideways at him, crinkling her nose in a way that made him chuckle again. “I suppose if I must,” she said with a sigh. She stood up and opened the door to her apartment.

She loved her apartment, she really did. She knew it was in an older part of town, but she loved the exposed brickwork and old pipes – even if they did take forever to give her hot water in the morning and creaked in the middle of the night. She liked the way the paint was peeling from the crown molding because it gave the space character. She liked the furniture she’d scavenged: from Ikea, from garage sales, from Henry’s basement. She liked it less when it all looked a little hazy and smelled vaguely charcoal-y.

Aphrodite personified herself went over to wrench open one of Alice’s windows while nice-guy firefighter poked at the remains of Alice’s attempt at dinner.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know the devastation of your grilled cheese does seem to be the only damage,” probably-high-school-quarterback guy told her with what she was sure was a charming, heart-melty smile to anyone who wasn’t distracted by the way his partner’s arms flexed as she forced open Alice’s notoriously hard-to-open windows.

“Someone painted over the seams on these,” she told Alice as she let out a small grunt of effort. “You should open them more often. They lead to the fire escape.”

Alice nodded. She wasn’t 100% sure she was retaining everything that was happening right now – she was 90% sure she was exhaustion-hallucinating this whole encounter – but she was damned if she wasn’t going to try and act like a normal person until they left, and she could sleep. She didn’t even care about eating anymore.

“Do I get to sleep now?” she asked them.

The model disguising herself as a firefighter finally managed to open two of Alice’s windows to air out any lingering smell of smoke and walked back into the kitchen. She peered at Alice, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Were you not allowed to sleep before?” she asked.

“I’m a grad student,” Alice offered as an explanation. “I was going to make something to eat and then sleep for the next – two full days, maybe? However long I can sleep without being considered in a coma.”

Most Likely to Win Best Smile guy patted her on the shoulder with a good-natured laugh, white teeth flashing against dark skin. He scrubbed a hand over his buzz cut. “Wait for the rest of the smoke smell to leave and then sure, you can slip into your not-coma. But we don’t want to be called back by your neighbors if it turns into an actual coma.”

Alice gave him an impish smile. “No promises.” She ushered them both out of her front door, and leaned against the doorframe, blonde curls falling everywhere out of her ponytail and blue plaid shirt a size too big and probably the most unattractive she’d ever been. She  _ really _ hadn’t needed to have an encounter with arguably two of the most attractive human beings she’d ever seen. It wasn’t good for her self-esteem.

She relaxed against the door as soon as they had walked back down the stairs, goddess girl leaving with a small concerned smile that crinkled the corner of her eyes. Alice still saw it every time she closed hers. It was deeply, truly unfair that she’d managed to develop a massive crush in less than ten minutes. She could chalk it up to being tired, but it was mostly being very weak to pretty girls.

She completely ignored the charred hunk of what used to be her dinner and went to her room to change into her pyjamas. The only reason she even cared about eating at this point was that she didn’t want to wake up with hunger pains during her upcoming sleep marathon. She was partway through washing her face when she heard a knock on her door. She hurriedly scrubbed it dry and opened her door without checking to see who it was.

A delivery guy was standing there, looking very bored and holding a bag. “Apartment 714?” he asked in a monotone.

“Yes?” Alice took the bag from him and frowned at it. “I didn’t order anything, though. I don’t have money for you.”  

He shrugged. “It’s paid for. Look, I’m just told to take the food and deliver the food so here’s me delivering the food. Can I go now?”

“I didn’t ask you to come,” Alice deadpanned at him. “So, sure.”

She closed and locked the door behind him and squinted at the brown paper bag in her hands. It had the logo of the bar and grill a few blocks over. The receipt was stapled to the top and she read it. “Grilled cheese and french fries,” she read off it out loud. Under ‘special instructions’ were the words ‘get some sleep, please’.

A warmth curled through her chest and she grinned a big, goofy smile at her hands. She dug into the food with gusto, reading the receipt once or twice more as she did so. She was a big enough person to admit the grilled cheese from the bar was much better than anything she would have made herself tonight. She brought the fries with her into her living room as she fished around on her couch for her phone. She swiped it open, carefully avoiding the broken bit at the top where a chunk of glass was missing, and texted Henry.

[Alice] I have a crush.

[Henry] onyour…psych paper? because that’s the only other thing you’ve interacted with in two days.

[Alice] I talk to you.

[Henry] your exact last words to me were Henry Daniel Mills if you interrupt me during a sentence one more time I will light your house on fire.

[Alice] ok

[Alice] but in my defense

[Alice] you were annoying me

[Alice] also irony I have a crush on the firefighter who came when I accidentally set my kitchen on fire

[Henry] I don’t know which part of that to respond to first

[Alice] she bought me grilled cheese I think I’m in love

[Alice] wait what if it wasn’t her? what if it was the guy firefighter?

[Alice] he was really nice this is something a really nice guy would do. Henry you’re a really nice guy would you buy grilled cheese for someone?

[Henry] thank you for calling me nice. but alice please go to sleep

She snorted at him but finished off her fries and leaned back against the couch cushions. With the cool breeze coming in through the open windows and her stomach full, she found herself drifting off to sleep before she even thought to go to her bedroom.

 

* * *

 

Alice woke up in the morning not nearly as hungry as she would have been if someone – either goddess girl or her entirely too cheerful friend, she hadn’t decided but she knew which one she wanted it to be – hadn’t sent her dinner the night before. She was awake, refreshed, ready to finish her last paper and submit her art portfolio and call it a spring semester in the bag.

She’d had a final couple of texts from Henry from the night before that she read at her kitchen counter while she popped handfuls of grapes into her mouth.

[Henry] oh speaking of attractive people

[Henry] my cousin moved to the city recently Ella and I were thinking you should meet up with her

[Henry] Ella says that was a weird segue into talking about my cousin.

[Henry] she’s right but you should still meet her.

[Henry] my cousin, not Ella.

Alice nearly choked when she groaned around a mouthful of fruit. Henry was  _ always  _ trying to set her up these days. She loved the guy, she really did, but he was one of those annoying people who was obnoxiously in love with someone and felt like everyone else should be the same way. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to date, it was that when did she even have the time? She was juggling grad school on top of working as a TA. The most human interaction she had recently that didn’t involve still-life portraits or strung-out undergrads happened last night when she lit her stove on fire.

Speaking of…she texted Henry back telling him that since she’d obviously met the love of her life in the form of attractive firefighter girl she couldn’t in all fairness meet his cousin and stood up to scrape the remnants of last night’s disaster into the trash. She filled the pan with hot water to let it soak out the rest of the burned parts and pulled out the ingredients for waffles from her pantry. All she could think about was waffles soaked in syrup for breakfast as the perfect accompaniment to the last paper she needed to write all semester. Her waffle iron was under the sink, so she grabbed it while pouring the ingredients into a mixing bowl with the other hand. Dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in the other, mix them together, add a  _ lot  _ of butter so the waffles would be nice and crispy. She filled the iron and pressed the lid down to let it cook.

Her phone buzzed obnoxiously against her counter and she walked over to grab it.

[Henry] the love of your life?

[Alice] yes, my soulmate. she who ordered me grilled cheese after mine burned alive. please keep up Henry.

[Henry] didn’t you say it also could have been the guy firefighter?

[Alice] don’t crush my dreams like that.

[Henry] do you need help with your paper btw?

[Alice] I need help with my LIFE but my paper should be fine.

She saw the bubbles that meant he was typing at the same time that she smelled something burning. She turned to look in horror at the waffle iron on her counter that she could see now was spewing smoke.

“You’ve got to be  _ kidding me _ ,” she said out loud even as the fire alarm started to go off again. She darted over to unplug the waffle iron and open the lid, which only let more smoke out. She waved her hand in front of her face as she coughed. She could see now that she’d set the temperature way too high, which was probably why it’d gone downhill so quickly. With a heaving sigh she went out into her hallway and sat on her stairs again.

To their credit, the two firefighters from last night didn’t laugh when they saw her sitting dejectedly on her stairs. For Best Smile guy it looked like quite the battle, though.

“It wasn’t a grilled cheese this time,” she said to them instead of a greeting. That  _ did  _ make him laugh and she tried to scowl at him but was also pouting quite a bit, so she didn’t think it had a very good effect. “It was just the butter smoking!” she insisted. “There wasn’t even a fire! It was just a lot of smoke! Nary a flame!”

Goddess girl raised a skeptical eyebrow and it should not have been as attractive as it was. She looked tired, but considering what Alice knew about firefighters they had really long shifts and she probably didn’t appreciate being called to someone’s apartment twice in less than twenty-four hours.

“I’m not sure you should be allowed near the kitchen,” she said as she walked by Alice into the apartment.

“Hey!” Alice followed her. “I’m a great cook.”

This was met with more laughter from Best Smile guy, probably because it was said while they walked into her kitchen filled with smoke.

“Is this the perpetrator?” goddess girl asked as she waved her hand in front of the waffle iron.

“I set the temperature too high,” Alice mumbled, running a hand through her hair and realizing, with sudden sharp clarity, that she was in a tank top and sleep shorts and had not done anything to tame her bedhead. She blushed so hard it was almost painful, and she couldn’t make eye contact when she said, “Sorry to bother you again.”

“Hey, it’s our job,” goddess girl said gently. When Alice looked at her she flashed a smile that showed an adorable set of dimples and that was just  _ unfair _ . “Did you get some sleep last night?”

“Finally,” Alice smiled at her, fighting past the embarrassment. “Thank you both for that. You didn’t have to get me food.”

Goddess girl shrugged. “You were having a rough night and we were stopping there to get dinner for the guys at the station.”

“Thank you anyway.”

Best Smile guy cleared his throat and they both looked up at him. Alice had nearly forgotten he was there. “I’m Naveen,” he said, reaching out a hand. “That’s Robin. We’re here to help with any of your future kitchen mishaps.”

She shook his hand. “I’m Alice. I hope I don’t have any future mishaps for you to respond to, but my track record says otherwise.” 

That made Robin laugh, and Alice flushed with pride. She was dressed in pyjamas and had just burned her food for the second time in a row but damnit she made a pretty girl laugh. Alice tugged a bit of her hair behind her ear shyly.

“The smoke isn’t as bad as last time,” Naveen teased her. He nudged her in the arm and she giggled behind a sigh. Robin’s eyes darted over to her and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“I told you there wasn’t a fire this time!” Alice defended herself.

“You know when the guys told us we’d get called to 714 a lot during exam time I thought they were just ribbing the new kid,” Robin said with a teasing glint in her eyes that made Alice’s stomach flip.

Alice buried her face in her hands to hide her mortification. “I do  _ not  _ have a reputation at the fire station,” she groaned into her palms.

“A little bit, yeah.”

“No, why would you tell me that. I’ll never be able to walk past it again.” She felt a tug on her elbow and when she looked up Robin was closer, her fingertips warm against the skin of Alice’s arm, her teasing smile a little softer.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” she said, her dimples making another appearance. “It’s funny.”

“I get distracted,” Alice explained, looking between Robin and Naveen and desperately wishing a hole would open in her kitchen and swallow her whole. If it was ever going to happen it would be in front of these two. “Grad school,” she reminded them.  

“We remember,” Naveen said. “What are you studying?”  

Alice went to answer and then jumped about a mile in the air when the radio on Robin’s shoulder squawked loudly. Robin moved a few feet away to answer it and Alice tried not to feel disappointed.

“You two probably have to go,” Alice said. “Thank you for stopping by again.”

“Of course,” Naveen gave her another heart-melty smile that did not affect her nearly as much as the way his partner’s dimples made her swoon. “Keep out of trouble?”

“Again, no promises.”

Robin stepped back over and nodded to Naveen, motioning behind her with her thumb. Alice walked them to her door and waved as they went down the stairs. “Be safe!” she called after them.

“Us be safe?” Robin smirked at her from where the stairs turned a corner and let Naveen go ahead of her. “You be safe, firebug.” She disappeared around the corner before Alice could do more than scrunch her face at her.

Alice went back over to her counter and sat down heavily at one of the chairs there. She picked up her phone again.

[Alice] funny story. while I was texting you I managed to burn my breakfast and the fire dept had to come again

[Henry] you’re a disaster of a human being

[Alice] it was sort of your fault  

[Henry] I stand by what I said

[Alice] shut up and meet me for breakfast


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice makes new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is not a rotating POV story like APL. this is all from alice's perspective. liz is trying to convince me to do another one from Robin's POV once it's over. she's only partially succeeding. 
> 
> i hope you guys are aware this fic is going to be just chapters and chapters and chapters of alice and robin being oblivious idiots doing everything couples do besides actually dating each other i hope you're ready for that

“The same two firefighters?” Henry asked after his face turned back to a normal color from laughing too hard.

 

Alice dipped her head, so she was leaning more over her cup of hot chocolate and hunched her shoulders around her ears. “I did not invite you to breakfast to make fun of me, Henry Mills.”

 

“And yet here we are.”

 

Ella elbowed her fiancé hard in the ribs and gave Alice a sympathetic look as he yelped. Alice smiled gratefully at her. “ _ Thank  _ you, Ella. The one person on my side.”

 

“Are finals really wearing you out that hard this time around?” Ella asked.

 

Alice shrugged. “It’s a little rougher than last year, but I always knew grad school would be worse than undergrad. If my friends were nicer to me maybe it’d be easier.”

 

“I am so nice,” Henry defended himself, little bits of muffin spewing out as he spoke around a full mouth. “I am the nicest.” He swallowed thickly and then had to drink a little bit of orange juice to not choke. “I’d be nicer if you didn’t tell me that you committed arson twice.”

 

“First off, arson is malicious not accidental. Second, there were no actual flames the second time, so it doesn’t count.”

 

“At least they were cute?” Ella said as she picked at her croissant. The café she worked at wasn’t as busy now that the morning rush had ended, and her boss had let her come sit with them on her break when Henry and Alice showed up. Her boss was also her best friend, which probably had something to do with it.

 

“They were  _ very  _ cute,” Alice enthused. “Naveen – the guy – he seemed really nice. Kind of too aware that he’s good-looking but nice. And the girl – ”

 

“Future wife and soulmate?” Henry interrupted with a snicker.

 

“Yes, she’s  _ gorgeous  _ and and she has this cute little dimple when she smiles and she’s so thoughtful and just so, so sweet, and...” Alice realized she was gushing a little and scratched at her eyebrow for a second to try and hide her blush. “I guess it wasn’t so bad it was both of them again.”

 

“Did you at least get her number?” Henry asked.

 

“No.”

 

“What?” Henry dropped the last bit of his muffin and had to scramble to catch it as it fell in his lap. “Are you saying that you’re crushing that hard and didn’t even ask for her number?”

 

“She was  _ working! _ ” Alice defended herself. “It’s not like she chose to come to my house and make sure everything wasn’t on fire!”

 

“Still – you said there was a connection, right? You could have at least asked.”

 

Alice raised an eyebrow at him. “Sure, sure. And every guy who feels a connection to Ella when she makes them their coffee should ask for her number too, right?”

 

Ella tossed her head back and laughed at the perturbed look on Henry’s face at that. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Ok, point.”

 

“I don’t even know if she was flirting,” Alice said, messing with her chocolate pastry and ripping little bits off the napkin.

 

“Alice, honey,” Ella reached over and patted her hand. Alice felt a little condescended to, honestly, especially when Ella leveled her with a ‘you’re so dumb’ look. “If the way you told the story is true she was so flirting with you.”

 

Alice sank lower in her chair. “You don’t know that.”

 

“So the next time you see her flirt with her and see how she responds?” Ella suggested. “Just do it lowkey enough that if she’s not interested she can just ignore you.”

 

It wasn’t a bad idea, even if the thought of attempting to overtly flirt with Robin terrified her. “Ok, well I’m not going to be seeing her any time soon. Hopefully. Bar setting another fire in my house, and who even knows if they’ll both respond again.”

 

Ella patted her hand again and stood up. “I have an idea.” She went over and grabbed a box from underneath the counter and started loading it up with pastries and cookies. When it was full she brought it over and put it in front of Alice.

 

“Thanks?” Alice said, looking between Ella and the box in confusion. “But I really can’t eat all this?”

 

Ella rolled her eyes. “They’re not for you,” she said. “Bring it to the station as a thank you.”

 

Alice brightened considerably. Just the thought of seeing Robin again so soon made her sit up straighter in her chair. “Ella, you’re a genius.”

 

“I’m aware.”

 

“How much do I owe you?” Alice asked, standing up and rummaging around in her jacket for her wallet.

 

Ella waved away her money. “Henry’s taking care of it for you.”

 

“I am?” Henry asked.

 

“Yes,” Ella gave him a pointed look. “To make it up to your friend for being so mean to her earlier.”

 

Henry grumbled but didn’t try to argue with his fiancée, which Alice thought was probably the smarter choice. She gave him a smug look and he very maturely stuck his tongue out at her.

 

Alice lifted the lid of the box to peek at the desserts and Ella smacked her hand lightly. “For your girl,” she said, pointing her finger at Alice.

 

“Robin probably wouldn’t mind,” Alice grumbled but closed the lid again. She dug into her jacket again for her phone to look at the time and determine if she had enough time to stop at the station before she had to get to campus.

 

“Robin?” Henry asked.

 

“Yeah,” Alice answered without looking up from her phone. “That’s firefighter girl’s name.”

 

“Alice, Robin is – ” He yelped and when Alice looked up at him he was clutching his arm and looking all offended at Ella.

 

“What’s wrong with you two?” Alice asked.

 

“Just getting my future husband to stop teasing you,” Ella answered, a little quickly. She shoved the box of desserts into Alice’s arms. “Now go and let us know how it goes.”

 

Alice kissed Ella on the cheek and made a face at Henry, who made one right back even while still looking wounded that Ella had hit him. Tiana waved at her on her way out the door.

 

Tiana’s Café was not too far away from her apartment building, but it was in the opposite direction of the fire station. She waited at the crosswalk to get across the street and made her way the several city blocks it took to get there. By the time she was close enough to see the red brick of the building and the nose of one of the fire engines peeking out of the open bay door Alice was glad she was heading towards people with medical expertise because it felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She suddenly wished she had stopped home and changed into something that wasn’t her faded Antioch University sweatshirt and ripped jeans.

 

Everything seemed quiet as she stopped on the sidewalk. She clutched the box a little tighter like it was a lifeline up until it started to bend under her grip and then she loosened her fingers. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice sounded nearby.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

A pretty young woman stepped up from around the firetruck, a washcloth in her hand and her eyes trained curiously on Alice. She had straight dark hair and high cheekbones and she was holding a helmet that said ‘Lucas’ across the back as she regarded Alice with sharp dark eyes.

 

“I brought a thank you!” Alice blurted out, holding the box up in front of her like it explained everything.

 

“Thank you?” the young woman asked.

 

“Naveen and Robin came to check out my apartment twice and nothing was wrong,” Alice said, heat curling up the back of her neck as the woman’s face went from curious to amused. “I felt bad so I thought I’d bring these by.”

 

“Ah, right. 714,” she said in such a knowing way that Alice’s blush increased threefold. “Sure, lemme get them for you.”

 

‘Get them for you’ turned out to be walking a few feet into the building and hollering at the top of her lungs. “Rana! M- ” her voice was muffled slightly by someone dropping equipment nearby. “Visitor for you.” She turned back to Alice with wide grin. “They should be right down. Are those for all of us?”

 

“Please,” Alice handed the box over willingly. The woman immediately grabbed a raspberry tart and took a bite.

 

“I’m Ruby, by the way,” she said, balancing the box on one arm to shake Alice’s hand.

 

“Alice.”

 

“I know.”

 

Alice tilted her head to study the way Ruby’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she said that. Ruby tilted her head and studied her right back.

 

“You know most people don’t bring us food to thank us,” she said, taking another bite of the tart. “We should make this a thing.”

 

“Make what a thing?” Robin’s voice came from down an open set of stairs and Alice’s heart jumped into her throat and lodged there.

 

“People bringing us food when we do nice stuff for them. I demand we make it a thing.”

 

“Who brought us food?” Robin stepped out on the bay floor and she saw Alice. Her face lit up in a smile as she came over. “Alice!”

 

“Hi,” Alice gave her a little wave. “I brought a thank you.” She motioned to the box in Ruby’s hands.

 

Robin narrowed her eyes at her co-worker. “Lucas, are you eating my thank you gift?”

 

“It’s everyone’s thank you gift. She said so.” Ruby stuffed the rest of the pastry in her mouth so that her cheeks puffed out.

 

Robin made to grab the box out of Ruby’s hands and she darted away, jumping over a set of turnout gear on the floor and holding the box above her head. Robin growled at her. “Ruby, give it!”

 

“Say thank you for your thank you gift and I’ll think about it!”

 

Alice watched this all unfold with amusement. She was grinning when Robin turned back to look at her. “Thank you,” Robin said. “You didn’t have to do that.”

 

“Well, I hope she gives it back. It’s not a good thank you gift if you never get to eat any.” She played nervously with the bottom of her shirt and tried not to get distracted by the fact that the sun shining in through the big open doors highlighted little freckles across Robin’s nose.

 

“Naveen will get them back from her,” Robin said with a shrug. “And if she’s eaten all the cookies before that I’ll fill her helmet with shaving cream.”

 

“I can hear you!”

 

“You were supposed to!”

 

Alice giggled, and Robin’s smile widened. They just stood together for a moment, Alice rubbing the heel of her shoe nervously into the cement under her feet, before Naveen burst downstairs.

 

“I heard there was food,” he said excitedly. “Oh, hi Alice.” He gave Robin a smirk that Alice couldn’t quite decipher.

 

“Ruby stole it,” Robin said. She nodded her chin in the direction Ruby had disappeared to with the box. “Go get it, please?”

 

“Sure, sure, you stay here. Keep Alice company. I’ll go play the dashing hero.”

 

Robin rolled her eyes and muttered, “Debatable,” even as he walked away. It made Alice giggle and Robin puffed up a little. “Sorry about all…that.” She waved her hand where her co-workers were currently nearly in a wrestling match over Alice’s box of sweets. “Everyone here is a little odd.”

 

“I like odd things,” Alice said.

 

Robin cleared her throat and Alice’s eyes followed the motion as she tucked a few of the fly-aways from her braid away from her face. The way Robin looked back at her then, the warmth in the way she looked at her, the little smile tugging at the corner of those full lips – for just a moment Alice thought that maybe Henry and Ella weren’t crazy. That maybe Robin looked at her and saw more than just a frazzled, barely put together grad student who set things on fire a little too often.

 

She was about to speak up, maybe ask Robin to let her prove she could cook when she made something for the two of them together some time, when her phone went off in her pocket. She scrambled to pull it out and grimaced at her reminder – ‘TA FINAL REVIEW YOU SHOULD BE ON THE BUS RIGHT NOW’.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said, putting her phone back in her pocket a little too forcefully (she was annoyed with it, because her courage had left as quick as it had come and there was no way she was asking Robin anything now). “If I don’t leave now I’ll be late for work. I hope you enjoy your thank you gift eventually.”

 

“You could hop in the truck,” Robin offered. “We’ll use the sirens and everything. Get you there early.”

 

“I’m pretty sure that’s illegal,” Alice said.

 

“Only if there isn’t a fire. Which with you being there is a 50/50 chance.”

 

“Hey!” Alice tried to look offended, but the way Robin’s eyes sparkled when she grinned was a little too distracting. “I can actually cook, you know.”

 

“I’m sure you can,” Robin said, not sounding convinced at all.

 

“I can!”

 

“Mmhmm.”

 

It took a significant amount of willpower for Alice to start backing up out of the building and back onto the sidewalk. Everything in her just wanted to stay and keep talking to Robin, to lean into the warmth she felt whenever those dimples appeared, even to hang out with Naveen and Ruby. Naveen appeared at that moment, victorious with the box of sweets in his hands and a line of chocolate across the side of his mouth.

 

“Bye Alice!” He put his free arm around Robin’s shoulders and grinned at her. “See you soon, I’m sure!”

 

Alice stuck her tongue out at him and laughed when Robin elbowed him hard in the stomach and stole the dessert box from him while he was bent over. It was the last image she had before she turned completely around with a little wave and started to hurry down the sidewalk. There was a bus stop a little way up the block and if she caught the next bus she would just make in time for the final review session in the class she TA’d for.

 

That was good. ‘I was distracted by the gorgeous firefighter I’m horrendously crushing on’ was probably not a valid reason to not show up.

 

* * *

 

In her defense, Alice went nearly two full days after that without any incident whatsoever.

She got to work without a problem, led the class through the finals review, went home and cooked herself a pasta dish without creating a small inferno. She almost wanted to call the fire station and ask them to send Robin and Naveen just to prove it. She spent the whole next day locked in her apartment finishing her very last paper of the semester. When she finished reading it through and submitting it online way after the sun had set she decided to celebrate.

 

Walking into the kitchen was a little like walking into a disaster zone, however. Dishes were in the sink and on the counter, and there were enough crumbs scattered around to feed an ant colony. Pots and pans were littered on the stove top and old pizza boxes and plastic takeout containers were piled on the island. She’d really let cleaning slack during her hell weeks. A clean house was a clean mind, though. She grabbed her phone and put some headphones in and started to clean up.

 

It was something boppy – fun and lighthearted and energetic, and she found herself dancing around as she cleaned, hips shaking back and forth and arms sometimes flinging suds. She put the plastic takeout containers on the stove to keep them out of the way before she took them and the slightly overflowing garbage out. She went up on her tip-toes to put the now-clean pans in the cupboard to the right of the stove and winced as the edge of her stove dug into her hip bones when she turned. A full-size oven was great for cooking, but less great when it stuck out further than the counters.

 

She noticed the smell at the same time that she noticed the noise above her music. She ripped off her headphones to hear the shrieking of the fire alarm and whirled around on the spot. One of her burners was on and it was melting the plastic takeout container on top of it. It dripped in horrid-smelling splatters down onto the flames, which only produced more acrid smoke. Alice darted forward and fumbled with the burner until it turned off.

 

She leaned back against the countertop for a moment, heart racing, and then walked over to wrench open the windows in her living room. The ones Robin had opened previously were much easier than the rest. She didn’t even want to leave her apartment this time, embarrassment making her heart pound nearly as much as the panic earlier. She removed the screen of one of her windows and sat out on the fire escape instead, her legs hanging inside the apartment still. And then she waited.

 

There was a pounding on her door just a few minutes later and an oh-so-familiar voice called, “Alice?”

 

She leaned her head into the apartment enough to shout, “Door’s open.”

 

Robin was in the door first, shoulders tense and eyes darting around quickly. Her face relaxed when she noticed Alice sitting outside the window. Naveen was behind her, concern making his handsome face crease.

 

Alice climbed back in so that her body was sitting on the window sill and mostly in the apartment, and immediately made a face at the smell. Robin was frowning, and she looked a little paler than usual. Alice could relate, because she had never felt more miserable and embarrassed in her entire life, except for the last time Robin and Naveen had been in her apartment.

 

“I wasn’t even cooking this time,” she said miserably, not actually standing up. She put her arms on her knees and put her chin on her arms and gave them the most pathetic look she could conjure.

 

Naveen’s face cleared, and he laughed a little as he looked at the mess in the kitchen. “What  _ were  _ you doing?” he asked.

 

“Cleaning.”

 

“Why does it smell like burned plastic?” Robin asked.

 

Alice sighed. “There might have been a tiny fire this time.”

 

“How did you even – ”

 

“I don’t  _ know _ ,” Alice whined. She buried her face into her elbow to hide the fact that she was currently wallowing in self-pity. Robin had had four interactions with her, and three of them had been Alice failing miserably to survive as an adult. What in the world did she think Robin was going to see in her? Date material? She could barely function. 

 

“Out of curiosity,” Robin’s voice said, suddenly much closer. Alice looked up to see her standing at the foot of the couch Alice was currently sitting on top of. “How many fires do you usually start?”

 

“None!” Alice said.

 

“Do you ever feel the urge or the need to start fires?” She sounded completely serious and Alice was nearly ready to burst into tears until she noticed the way Robin’s eyes were crinkling a bit in her effort not to smile.

 

Alice reached down and grabbed a throw-pillow off her couch to use it the way the name suggested. “No, you  _ jerk _ .”

 

Robin laughed and caught the pillow as it hit her chest.

 

Naveen came walking out of the kitchen, pulling gloves off his hands. “The plastic has been disposed of,” he said, voice full of mirth. “Looks like you had it on top of a lit burner.”

 

“In my defense,” Alice said, “the burner was not lit when the takeout container was put  _ on  _ the burner.”

 

“I assumed.”

 

Alice buried her face in her hands again when Robin started to laugh harder. “Aren’t you two paid to not make fun of people in distress?”

 

“We’re paid to put out fires,” Robin said between giggles. “We can mock the people who start them as much as we want. That’s not in the contract.”

 

Alice finally stood up, first onto her couch cushions and then down onto the floor. The smell was worse away from the open window and she coughed a little.

 

Robin’s laughter died immediately. “Hey, how long did you stay in the kitchen before you opened a window?” she asked, all laughter gone from her face as she studied Alice intently.

 

“A minute or so?” Alice said with a shrug. “Long enough to shut the burner off.”

 

“Next time leave the apartment like before,” Naveen scolded. 

 

“I was on the fire escape,” Alice defended herself. “Escaping the fire.” 

 

Naveen and Robin did not seem nearly as amused with Alice as Alice was with herself. Robin’s adorable frown got deeper and Naveen sighed. 

“Besides nearly giving Robin and me a heart attack when we didn’t see you on the landing it means you don’t inhale more smoke than necessary.” He looked around, peering at the ceiling where it was still a little hazy from the smoke. “You should also leave for a little bit until it clears.”

 

Alice made a face. “Do I have to?”

 

“Yes,” Naveen said sternly, which was so out of character for him from the last interactions they’d had that Alice was ready to listen to him.

 

“At least come to the truck away from this smoke,” Robin said, forehead crinkled in a way that Alice felt guilty for having caused. “So we can listen to your breathing.”

 

“I’m fine,” Alice protested.

 

“It’s our job.”

 

Alice sighed and nodded. She just wanted to make the worry lines in Robin’s face go away and if letting her listen to Alice’s lungs did that then it was a small sacrifice to make. “Just don’t take me to the hospital,” she said as she followed them out the door.

 

“No promises,” Naveen parroted back to her in an absolutely awful impression of her accent. Robin snorted.

 

The air outside felt cool and crisp against her skin and even better when she took in a deep lungful of it. She didn’t realize how bad the air inside had been until she compared it to the cleanness of the night.

 

“Sit,” Robin pointed to the step leading up to the fire truck’s passenger side door. “Let me get my things.”

 

“This is unnecessary,” Alice grumbled even as she sat down.

 

Robin disappeared for a moment and came back with a red and blue bag with a medical symbol on it. “Everyone is cross-trained in our firehouse,” she explained when Alice lifted a questioning eyebrow at her. “So everyone can do EMT and fire stuff. I’m just going to do a quick listen to make sure you didn’t stay in the kitchen too long.”

 

“I told you I’m fine,” Alice sighed.

 

“Well I’ll be happy to tell you that you’re right once I listen to your lungs,” Robin said stubbornly. 

Alice sighed again but opened her arms and made an ‘if you must’ gesture. She didn’t quite realize what Robin listening to her lungs would entail until Robin was standing with her knees pressed against Alice’s and the nubs of the stethoscope in her ear. She placed the metal part against Alice’s shirt and a cute little crinkle appeared between her eyebrows as she listened. The blood was rushing in Alice’s ears so hard at the proximity she wasn’t sure how Robin was going to be able to hear anything over the pounding of her heart.

 

“Take a deep breath for me?” Robin requested. Alice complied, doing it twice more when Robin asked again, and when she took the stethoscope away Robin was suddenly, inexplicably, blushing. Alice had a moment of hope that this was affecting Robin as much as it was affecting her until Robin spoke up again. “I’m sorry your button-up is,” she stuttered here and then recovered, “it’s a pretty thick material. Is it ok if I listen underneath?”

 

No, it was  _ not  _ ok Alice could barely handle when she was listening over the shirt. Naveen had vanished around the other side of the truck and Alice heard muffled noises coming from over there. She felt the blush curl up to her ears even as she nodded and undid the top button of her flannel.

 

“Sorry,” Robin said again, voice high-pitched. She slid the end of the stethoscope into the neck of Alice’s shirt and Alice hissed at how cold the metal felt. “Sorry!” Robin said a third time. She brought it out and held it between her hands for a moment to warm the metal. When she put the stethoscope back it wasn’t nearly as cold but now all Alice had to concentrate on was the way Robin bent forward to concentrate on listening, the way it felt when her fingertips – holding the stethoscope very carefully – brushed gently against her skin. Robin quietly reminded her to take a deep breath and Alice remembered she was supposed to be breathing in the first place.

 

When Robin pulled the stethoscope out of her shirt Alice thought her ordeal was over, until a red-faced Robin motioned to her again, and Alice remembered yearly physicals where her doctor would listen to her breathing with the stethoscope against her chest, yes, but also her back and her side.

 

Alice was going to die and it wasn’t going to have anything to do with smoke inhalation.

 

“I have to – ”

 

“Like at the doctors, got it,” Alice interrupted. Like peeling off a band-aid she lifted the left side of her shirt slightly. Robin seemed to hesitate for a moment before she put the stethoscope to Alice’s side. Two fingers held the stethoscope in place and the rest of her hand fell into the grooves between Alice’s ribs, hot where the night air was cool. Alice took two deep but shaky breathes until Robin moved the stethoscope again, sliding it around to her back. Robin had to step closer now to get her arm around Alice’s back, fully stepping between Alice’s knees. Alice could count the freckles along her nose, see the tiny scar just above her right eyebrow, and had to fight a whimper because this close Robin would hear it without a doubt.

 

Do not embarrass yourself again, Alice Jones, she reprimanded herself. She took the two deep breaths, and a third just to be sure, and then Robin was stepping out of her space.

 

It was both a relief and a disappointment when Robin pulled the stethoscope away again. This close Alice could see the golden flecks in her eyes when she looked up at Alice, sitting above her on the truck’s step.

 

“Good as gold,” she said quietly, voice soft in a way that made Alice’s lungs clench in her chest.

 

“Told you,” Alice replied in a surprisingly steady voice. “Am I good to go back upstairs?”

 

“No,” Robin said, frowning again. “That kind of smoke with all the burned-out plastic is pretty toxic. You need to give it more than a few minutes to clear out. At least two hours, minimum.”

 

Alice groaned and leaned her head back against the metal door of the truck. “I can go to my friend’s house,” she started, and then stopped when she remembered that Henry and Ella were visiting his mom while she had flown out to visit his aunt in San Francisco. “Or wait – no he’s gone for the weekend.”

 

“You can come back with us,” Naveen offered as he walked back around from the side of the truck. He was putting his phone in his pocket and it was difficult to tell with his skin tone, but his face looked flushed. Alice and Robin both frowned at him before Robin nodded and smiled at Alice.

 

“That’s not a bad idea,” she said. “You can come back to the firehouse and that way we can check you out again in a bit –” Alice widened her eyes, startled, and Naveen cleared his throat. Robin rushed to clarify, “I mean like listen to your chest again to make sure you’re still good,” she said, ducking her head and rubbing at the back of her neck.

 

“There’s no way I’m imposing on the whole firehouse after you’ve been called to my apartment three times in four days,” Alice said. She shook her head firmly. “I’ll find a coffee shop to camp out in.”

 

“It’s not imposing if we insist,” Robin said. “And we are. Insisting, that is.”

 

Alice studied them both for a long moment but nothing in their open and honest expressions or the quiet smile Robin was giving her made her think they were lying. She scrubbed at the side of her face and looked balefully up at her apartment. “I think that’ll be ok, then. As long as everyone else doesn’t mind.”

 

“They don’t mind,” Naveen said so quickly that they both looked at him. He shrugged at them but didn’t explain himself before he went around to the driver’s side. Alice jumped down from the step, so Robin could open the passenger side door and give her a hand up into the cabin. Alice climbed into one of the back seats as Robin sat in the passenger side. The seats were made of hard plastic and leather and Robin nodded in sympathy when Alice grimaced. 

 

“Not exactly built for comfort,” Robin explained, raising her voice over the rumble of the engine as Naveen turned it on.

 

Thankfully it was a short ride to the firehouse. She enjoyed Naveen’s curses of frustration as he tried to back the truck into the bay, and she enjoyed Robin’s giggles at his frustration even more. When he parked, Robin opened the door and leapt down the steps before turning and giving Alice a hand down the same way she’d given her a hand up. The show of chivalry absolutely did not melt her insides.

 

Ruby was standing at the end of the steps leading up into the actual firehouse itself and clapping, slowly and mockingly, when Alice climbed out of the truck.

 

“Our returning heroes,” she said, giving them all a wicked smirk. “Plus one!”

 

Alice blushed. “Hello again, Ruby.”

 

“Did you burn your building down and now you have to stay with us?” Ruby asked, arching an eyebrow.

 

“Yes, Rube,” Robin quipped back. “Naveen and I handled an entire building burning down all by ourselves. You weren’t even missed.”

 

“Rude.” Ruby reached out and threaded her arm through Alice’s when she was close enough, tugging her up the stairs by her elbow. Alice threw a panicked look over her shoulder at Robin who widened her eyes at Ruby’s back but was pulled away by Naveen towards the truck.  Alice had no choice but to let Ruby drag her away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to the Conspiracy To Get Alice and Robin Together. presidents Henry Mills and Ella Tremaine preside. vice president Naveen Rana has just been initiated. more members actively being recruited. join today! 
> 
> (ffau fun facts time! ruby was actually here first and then i fell so much in love with writing her in this i also put her into APL. naveen was never given a last name, rana means frog.)
> 
> edit: apparently directly underneath this is the same note as last week about not updating APL? i don't know why that is and i can't make it go away. just ignore it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alice is pretty sure she just got adopted by an entire fire station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, struggling to find enough OUAT guys i tolerate to fill a fire station: they can be OOC, right? right.

At the top of the stairs the firehouse expanded into a big, open floorplan. There was a large kitchen area with an even bigger table. Someone was standing at the stove stirring something that smelled amazing in a very large pan. There was what Alice could only assume was some sort of recreation area with large, slightly beat up but plush couches and recliners and a tv with game consoles hooked up to it. The tv was currently playing a soccer game.

 

The man at the stove smiled at them when they approached. He had dark hair and a handsome angular face with kind eyes that crinkled with laugh lines. “Hello!” he greeted.

 

“Alice, August. August, Alice.” Ruby introduced. Alice gave him a little wave.

 

“Ah, right. 714,” he said.

 

Alice tipped her head all the way back when she groaned. “Does everyone know me by that?” she asked the ceiling.

 

“Yes,” someone from the couch answered.

 

“You could have lied,” Alice said, to a chorus of laughter.

 

“An accent!” The man on the couch who answered her stood up. He had curly hair that fell into his eyes and an accent that was prominent when he greeted her. “A fellow transplant,” he said. “I’m Graham. Robin and Naveen may have mentioned you. They didn’t say you were beautiful.”

 

Ruby snorted at that. “Not every girl falls over themselves for the scruffy, bearded Irishman thing you’ve got going on, G,” she said.

 

Graham winked at her. “I’m simply being polite to our guest.” He held out his hand to Alice and then turned it over to kiss her knuckles when she went to shake it.

 

“Knock it off,” Robin growled from the top of the stairs.

 

“Why is everyone yelling at me,” Graham whined. He dropped her hand to give Robin wounded puppy eyes when she and Naveen walked into the room.

 

Robin came over to stand next to Alice and glare at Graham. He held his hands up in a placating gesture and walked back towards the couch.

 

“Ignore him,” the only other woman in the room said. “No one ever told him he isn’t the prettiest thing in the room growing up and it’s gone to his head permanently.” She was a pretty Asian woman with straight dark hair pulled back into a bun and dark brown eyes that glinted with sharp humor.

 

Graham made an offended noise and slouched back onto the couch. Alice giggled.

 

“That’s Mulan,” Ruby introduced. “She’s the second coolest person here, besides yours truly. That’s Eric with the dark hair in the chair over in the corner. His girlfriend’s a mermaid.” 

 

Alice blinked. “I’m sorry?” 

 

Ruby snickered. “I just like to tell people that as often as I can.” 

 

“She’s a professional mermaid in LA,” Eric said with a great, heaving sigh, like this was something Ruby made him explain often. “Got the prosthetic tail and everything.” 

 

“Ah, got it.” 

 

“The other degenerates on the couch are Phillip and Sean,” Ruby continued. A blonde and black-haired man sitting on the couch both raised their hands to wave but they, unlike everyone else, were very focused on the game. “Chief is around here somewhere but he usually only shows up the very moment we do something wrong.”

 

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” Alice said.

 

“She’s so nice,” August said. “We should keep her. Trade her out for Robin or something.”

 

“Hey!” Robin glared at him, but her face softened when Alice laughed. “There was burned plastic in Alice’s little fire,” she said to everyone. “She’s going to hang out with us while her apartment clears out of smoke and we are all going to behave like normal, well-adjusted adults while she does that.” 

 

“Are we?” Mulan asked skeptically.

 

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like us at all.”

 

“Are you sure it’s ok that I’m here?” Alice asked nervously. She knew Robin and Naveen wouldn’t have invited her if it wasn’t, but being in the fire house, surrounded by people all dressed in the same Seattle FD polo Naveen and Robin always wore, with the slightly ominous alarm hanging on the wall, it all felt a little intimidating.

 

“It’s fine,” Ruby gave her arm a squeeze and let go. “Unless there is actually an emergency our jobs are to keep the equipment clean and working – which it is – and be ready to go the minute we’re needed – which we are – and as long as you don’t get in the way of either of those things – ”

 

“Which you aren’t!” Robin interjected.

 

“ – then you’re fine. If there’s an emergency, we’ll all go, and you can stay right here and wait for us to get back. The TV gets HBO and there are snacks in the fridge.” 

 

Alice felt her shoulders relax. Robin grinned at her then, dimples on full display, in a way that made Alice a little weak in the knees. She was sure her face must have showed it because Ruby gave her a knowing smirk.

 

“Just don’t wake up Grumpy,” the dark-haired guy on the couch, Phillip, warned. “He likes his sleep.”

 

“Is his name actually Grumpy?” Alice asked.

 

“We’re not sure,” Naveen said. He grunted when Robin elbowed him. “Probably not.”

 

Sean and Phillip let out a sudden loud cheer at something happening on the TV and Alice was feeling just a touch overwhelmed. She thought Robin might have noticed, because she put her hand on Alice’s elbow and ushered her into the corner where a couple of armchairs had been shoved against the wall. Eric was playing on his phone in one and Mulan was reading in the third one a little farther away, but he was quiet and she exuded a calmness that Alice appreciated. Alice sat gratefully and allowed her body to sink into the plushness of the chair. Robin perched herself on the arm of it. “You ok?”

 

“Yeah,” Alice nodded. “Everyone is so nice.”

 

“I don’t know how anyone could be anything but nice to you. Don’t let them fool you, though.”

 

“Hey!” Ruby chucked a bread roll from the kitchen across the room at Robin. It missed by a mile. “I heard that.”

 

“So did you grow up in Seattle?” Robin asked, ignoring Ruby entirely. “Or are you just here working yourself up to exhaustion for grad school and to start your burgeoning arson career?”

 

“Hey,” Alice said. “It’s not a career!”

 

“Okay, you’re right. I’m so-”

 

“It’s a hobby.”

 

Naveen laughed out loud at that and Ruby and August joined in from the kitchen.

 

“Girl’s got jokes!” Graham shouted across the room between chuckles. Alice gave Robin a smug look and Robin rolled her eyes at her co-workers.

 

“Will you get a life and stop eavesdropping?” she snapped at them.

 

“Why? You having a conversation worth eavesdropping about?”

 

“That’s the only time people care,” Mulan chimed in, turning the page in her book.

 

“How can you even read with all these people making noise?” Alice asked curiously. She leaned forward around Robin to get a better look at her.

 

Mulan didn’t really smile but her eyes got warmer, which Alice thought was maybe the same thing for her. “I was in the army,” she said. “You learn to tune out distractions. It’s a skill Robin should acquire.”

 

“Is it pick on Robin night?” Robin whined.

 

“Bold of you to assume every night isn’t pick on Robin night,” Ruby said.

 

Robin’s face went from fake offended to overdramatically hurt. She made her eyes big and sad when she looked at Ruby. “I’ve never felt more attacked in my life,” she said.

  
Alice chuckled and put her hand on Robin’s leg just above the knee, rubbing a consoling little circle. She didn’t even think about doing it until Robin’s eyes, now wide for real, looked down at where Alice’s hand was touching her. Alice started to panic a little. She’d meant for the touch to be comforting and light, but now Robin was looking at her and she could feel the warmth of her skin through the fabric of her pants and she wasn’t sure if it would be worse to leave it there or pull it away like she was doing something wrong.

 

Mulan’s book closed with a loud snap and it was sudden enough that both Alice and Robin jumped a little. The motion allowed Alice to let her hand drop naturally.

 

“I think dinner is ready,” she said. She clicked a remote next to her and the TV went dark, much to the shouting and groaning of the guys on the couch.

 

“Oh, you’ll live,” Ruby rolled her eyes at them.

 

Everyone crowded into the chairs around the table in the kitchen as August started to dole out ladles of chili into bowls. Robin kicked Naveen in the ankle as he went to go for one of the chairs and pulled it out, gesturing for Alice to sit instead. Alice smiled at her even as Naveen grumbled. Robin hip-checked him as he went to go sit at the chair on the corner and he threw his hands up.

 

“What? I can’t sit down now?” he asked.

 

“Stop sitting where I want to sit,” Robin told him. She plopped herself down on the chair next to Alice and gave him a smug smirk. Alice ran a hand through her hair to hide a smile at their antics. Ruby didn’t even try.

 

Alice smiled sweetly at August when he placed a bowl and a glass of water down in front of her and to her surprise he blushed and hurried away. Ruby choked a little on the spoonful she’d just swallowed.

 

“So, Alice, what do you do here in Seattle?” Mulan asked. She dipped a piece of bread into her bowl and watched Alice with wide, interested eyes.

 

“Besides start fires,” Robin quipped.

 

Alice ran her finger along the condensation on her glass and flicked the water at Robin, who just grinned at her with those adorable dimples. “I’m a grad student at Antioch,” Alice told Mulan, pointedly ignoring the way her heart fluttered when Robin handed her a bread roll before taking one for herself. She was just being nice.

 

“Studying what, if you don’t mind me asking?”

 

“I don’t!” Her face lit up at being asked. Alice’s future career was her absolute favorite subject and left unrestrained she could talk about it with someone for hours. “I’m getting my master’s in art therapy.”

 

“That’s where you help people by teaching them how to draw, right?” Phillip asked around a mouthful of bread. Mulan punched him in the shoulder. He swallowed thickly and rubbed at his arm. “Ow. Sorry. Manners.”

 

Alice laughed. “Yeah, sort of,” she said. “I want to work with social services, help kids in the foster system.”

 

“That’s really admirable,” Naveen said, more seriously than any other time he’d ever spoken to her.

 

Alice just shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. She didn’t want to do it so people would think she was admirable. She wanted to do it because she knew how much it could help. “Kids in those situations can get themselves into a lot of trouble sometimes because they don’t have a good outlet to express their feelings. Positive or negative.”

 

“It’s still an amazing thing to strive towards,” Naveen insisted.

 

Alice shrugged again. “I just know how much it can help. If I had someone back then to teach me something like this maybe I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble growing up.”

 

“I think it’s amazing,” Robin said quietly, ducking her head so she could catch Alice’s eyes. “We all do.”

 

“Say the people who run into fires for a living,” Alice scoffed.

 

“That’s because we’re dumb,” Ruby said.

 

August finished serving everyone and got a bowl for himself, sitting down next to Ruby and elbowing her on purpose so the drink in her hand splashed on her arm. “Speak for yourself,” he said.

 

“That goes double for you,” she told him as she wiped the water off on her pants. “I know where you sleep.”

 

“You know where we all sleep. The bunks are down the hall.”

 

Alice snorted a laugh and clapped her hand over her face, immediately embarrassed. Robin grinned at her in a way that crinkled her eyes at the corners and Alice’s embarrassment disappeared. She hoped, surrounded by people, she didn’t look at Robin the way it felt like she looked at Robin, with obvious adoration and an abundance of cartoon hearts.

 

By the end of dinner Alice had the sneaking suspicion she’d been adopted by the crew of Station 815. Phillip and Sean spent a while trying to make her understand the finer points of fantasy football, which she didn’t really get but had fun teasing them by insisting they were using the wrong word. Sean eventually huffed and muttered something about “we won the revolutionary war”, which made her laugh. August’s father was a woodcarver, which was fascinating, and he proudly showed off the plaque hanging on the wall his father had carved of the department’s shield. Eric was a fisherman before he became a firefighter, which he and Alice talked about at great length, since Alice’s father was the captain of his own ship. Naveen regaled her with stories of growing up in Louisiana and Alice made a mental note to introduce him to Tiana, who had also grown up there. Alice was left-handed and Robin was right, so every once in a while their elbows would bang against each other at the table and Ruby laughed at them every time this happened even as Robin laughed.

 

Naveen pushed his bowl towards Robin and smirked at her. “Guess whose turn?”

 

“Screw you guys,” Robin muttered.

 

“We have a chore wheel,” Ruby reminded her.

 

Robin rolled her eyes and stood up to pick up everyone’s bowls and Alice jumped to her feet. “Here,” she said, scooping up her own bowl and Ruby’s. “Let me help.”

 

“No!” At least three voices said at once, including Robin’s. “You’re our guest,” Robin said.

 

Alice responded by grabbing the top bowl off of Robin’s stack and walking purposefully into the kitchen. She started to run the water and grabbed the sponge that sat on the metal rim of the sink. She didn’t even look up when she heard Robin approach from behind. “You dry, I’ll wash,” she insisted. She grinned triumphantly at the sigh of defeat that followed that.

 

They got into a system of Alice handing the clean bowls off to Robin, who would dry them off initially with a dish towel and then stack them in the rack to air-dry the rest of the way. Partway through, Alice handed her a bowl and their fingers brushed. An electric jolt shot up her arm and Alice nearly dropped the bowl entirely. Her hand was shaking when she picked up the next bowl and it slipped out of her fingers and clattered back into the sink, splashing water up onto Alice’s shirt. Robin laughed at her. 

 

“Hey!” Alice glared at her sideways and then grinned wickedly. She scooped a handful of suds and tossed them at Robin.

 

Robin blinked at her with droplets of water on her forehead and suds dripping off the collar of her shirt. Then she lurched forward to catch her own handful of soap and tip them over Alice’s head. Alice shrieked as the water dripped down the back of her neck.

 

“Payback!” Robin said gleefully as she darted backwards away from Alice’s retaliation.

 

Alice grabbed the last bit of suds in the sink that were possible to make into a weapon and flicked them at Robin. They splattered all over her front and she laughed as she wiped at her face before lunging forward and snapping the dish towel in her hand at Alice. Alice backpedaled and felt her sneaker slip in one of the many small puddles of water they’d created on the floor. She was close enough to the counter that she leaned back to steady herself, but Robin darted over to try and steady her as well. Her boot also slid on the floor and she had to catch herself, arms anchored on either side of Alice, close enough for their knees and stomachs to press together. Robin was breathing hard and every breath made her press against Alice. It was a good thing she was in a firehouse because she felt hot all over. Robin’s eyes roamed all over Alice’s face and for one breathless moment Alice thought maybe – just maybe – there was a possibility…

 

“You two okay over here?”

 

Robin moved away from her and Alice felt the loss like a physical blow. If there had been a moment between them (and Alice wasn’t convinced there was) it was over now. Alice had to laugh at the way Robin looked at the mess they’d made and grimaced.

 

“Sorry, we’ll clean it up,” Robin said.

 

Mulan laughed. “That wasn’t what I was asking.”

 

“Dishwashing got a little intense,” Alice told her, and for some reason that made Robin blush.

 

Alice grabbed a dry dish towel and they set about wiping up the water from the floor. They had to avoid catching each other’s eyes while doing this as they tended to start giggling when they did. Naveen was leaning against the wall and grinning at them when they stood back up.

 

“Dish duty is never that fun,” he said. “We should have Alice here more often.”

 

“Agreed,” Robin nodded, soap on her ear and smiling as she looked at Alice. “But also, your apartment is probably okay now if you want to leave.”

 

Want was a strong word. She liked it here. Living on her own was lonely, and as much as seeing Henry and Ella and texting her father helped, this group of people had gone out of their way to make her feel comfortable. She felt torn and she must have looked it because Naveen walked over and tugged her back into the living room.

 

“Or you can stay and watch a movie with us,” he said. “And then go home.”

 

Robin had disappeared and came back in with fabric in her arms. She handed a t-shirt to Alice. “Here, so you don’t have to sit here in wet clothes.”

 

Alice spent the rest of the night squished between Naveen and Robin, laughing along to the whole room complaining about the inaccuracies in the firefighter movie they were watching. When she left it was to a chorus of goodbyes and an open invitation to stop at the station any time she wanted. She got another ride home, this time in Naveen’s pickup instead of the firetruck. Robin walked her to the door of the building.

 

“Thanks,” Alice said when they reached the top of the steps. “For not thinking I’m annoying for setting off the smoke alarm so often. And for giving me a place to hang out tonight.”

 

“Of course,” Robin said. She was standing a few steps below Alice, looking up, the left side of her face highlighted in contrasts from the light above the door. She held out her hand. “Can I see your phone for a moment?”

 

Alice unlocked it and handed it over without thinking. Robin tapped away for a moment before handing it back with a grin. “There,” she said. “You’ve got me and the big lug in the truck in there now. Maybe next time call me directly when you set fire to your place? Just to give us a heads up on what to expect.”

 

“Hey,” Alice whined.

 

“Like, squirt bottle bad or tap a hydrant bad?”

 

“Jerk,” Alice said. She rolled her eyes and bit her lip to stop the smile she felt trying to break free.

 

Robin laughed. “But, really…don’t – um – hesitate to call.” She tucked some flyaway bits of her braid back behind her ear and grinned at Alice. “You know, I mean, what are your friendly neighborhood firefighters here for if not to help, right?”

 

“Thank you, Robin.”

 

Robin hopped backwards down the stairs and gave her a little wave as she got in Naveen’s truck. Naveen beeped a goodbye as they drove away.

 

Upstairs her apartment was mostly aired out. There was only a lingering sense that the smoke had been there before. Alice nearly tripped over herself getting to her living room and she let herself fall backwards onto the couch, holding her phone to her chest. She let the smile out now that she was alone.

 

Oh, man. She was so sunk. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tropes! Get your freshly baked tropes here!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice has brunch with old friends and text conversations with new ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys APL is still being worked on here’s another FFAU update while you’re waiting on that!

She was woken up the next morning, on her couch with a crick in her neck, by a knocking on her door. Alice rolled over and pushed her face into her couch cushion with a groan. She’d been having a good dream, as far as she could remember. She’d been walking on a beach. The air was cold but her hand was warm where someone was holding it.

 

“Who is it?” she called, voice muffled.

 

“Your friendly neighborhood nuisance,” Henry said.

 

Alice smiled against the fabric of her couch before she shoved herself up and opened the door. Henry grinned at her, goofy and windswept, on the other side. “I thought you were in San Francisco for the weekend?”

 

“We were,” he said. “But my mom wanted to visit my cousin so we all drove back up here. I figured maybe you’d want to go get Sunday brunch.” His smile dropped into amused confusion as he looked her over. “What are you wearing?”

 

Alice looked down. She didn’t realize that she was still wearing the shirt that Robin gave her last night. It was dark heather grey and very comfortable, but it had the words Seattle FD along the front so it was obviously not hers.

 

Henry’s eyes sparked with mischief. “Did I interrupt something?” he asked, sticking his head over the threshold to peer into the apartment.

 

“I wish,” Alice mumbled. She stepped back to let him in.

 

“What was that?”

 

“I said, no. There was a small fire situation last night and – ”

 

“Firefighter girl came in to sweep you off your feet?” Henry joked.

 

Alice rolled her eyes. “No! There was a bad kind of smoke and I couldn’t stay here while it aired out. And since  _ somebody _ wasn’t in the city they let me hang out with them for a couple of hours while it cleared.”

 

“How generous of them.”

 

“Very,” Alice turned and started to walk towards her room to get dressed. Henry made a choking noise and she spun around to see him red-faced and fighting to keep from laughing. “What?”

 

“Nothing,” he gasped out. “Just realized how many times you’ve had the fire department called on you this month.”

 

It didn’t sound like he was entirely telling the truth, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what else he could be laughing about. She decided to believe him and flipped him off before going into her room.

 

She grabbed a nice blue button-up and a pair of slacks, having met Henry’s moms enough times to know Regina will want to go somewhere nice for brunch, and no doubt her sister wouldn’t be different. She went to pull Robin’s shirt off her head and paused partway through. The shirt smelled like a different sort of laundry detergent, maybe something a little generic, and something underneath that, something warm. It sparked an instantaneous comfort response in Alice. The shirt smelled like Robin when she’d stepped close to listen to her lungs last night.

 

Alice put the shirt carefully on her bed and finished getting dressed, brushing and plaiting part of her hair to the side. She’d wash the shirt and give it back to Robin.

 

Henry was furiously texting on his phone in her kitchen when she came out. She waited until he finished and when it didn’t look like he was going to stop anytime soon she cleared his throat. He jumped.

 

“You look nice,” he said. He shoved his phone into his pocket in a way that could only be described as suspicious.

 

Alice ushered him out the door and locked the door behind them. “What is wrong with you lately?” she asked as they walked down the stairs.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You get any jumpier and you’re going to bungie off the side of a cliff.”

 

Henry snorted. “Nothing, I’m fine. I mean, I’m getting married soon. Why wouldn’t I be jumpy?”

 

Alice’s heart melted. She squeezed his arm. “Ella is the love of your life,” she said softly. “Everything is going to be great.”

 

“I know,” Henry grinned at her over his shoulder as he opened the door of her building for her. “Speaking of…”

 

“Don’t,” Alice warned him. She got into the back of his car and smiled when Ella turned around to greet her.

 

“Don’t what?” Ella asked.

 

“I had a feeling he was going to tease me about firefighter girl again so I cut him off before he could start,” Alice said.

 

“I was actually going to bring up my cousin, thank you very much,” Henry huffed as he pulled out into traffic.

 

“Even worse.”

 

That set Ella off into a fit of giggles that Alice didn’t quite understand.  Together they managed to keep Henry from being too much of a dork for the whole drive and when they finally pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant Alice was sure they’d beaten the idea of him trying to set her up on dates out of him. Henry’s moms were sitting at the table already when they got there, holding hands and heads lowered together as they talked. They looked up as the group approached and Regina stood up to pull Alice into a hug.

 

“Hello, sweetheart,” she said, giving Alice a kiss on the side of the head. Alice squeezed her tight before Regina passed her on to hug Emma as well.

 

“How’s school, kid?” Emma asked when they all sat down.

 

“Fantastic!” Alice said. “Better now that it’s over for the summer.”

 

That got a laugh out of the table. Before Emma could ask anything else another woman came in the door and sat down. She was very pretty, maybe a few years older than Regina, with curly dark red hair and blue eyes. There was something familiar about her that Alice just couldn’t place. It was in the way she held herself, the set of her chin, and a little in the shape of her eyes. Alice shook herself slightly as she was introduced as Henry’s aunt, Zelena. Of course she would be familiar, Alice was probably just picking out all of the traits she shared with her sister.

 

“It’s very nice to meet you, Alice,” Zelena said after she sat down and Henry introduced them. “Sorry I’m late. I was on the phone with my daughter.”

 

“Where is she?” Henry asked.

 

“Not coming,” Zelena said with a frown. “She had to stay behind and cover a shift for one of her co-workers. She’ll come by your apartment later tonight to see Regina and Emma, she says.”

 

Henry slumped in his chair and Alice narrowed her eyes at him. “Henry,” she said warningly. “Did you invite me to brunch so that you could try to set me up with your cousin again?”

 

He tried to smile at her but withered under her stare. “I didn’t  _ not  _ do that,” he said weakly.

 

It was only because they were in a nice restaurant that Alice didn’t throw something at him. She definitely contemplated it though.

 

“Henry!” she scolded.

 

Emma snickered into her glass of water. “What’d he do now?” she asked, ignoring the wounded sound Henry made at her.

 

“He’s been trying non-stop to set me up on dates with people for months. Most recently with his cousin,” she complained. Then it sparked in her brain who she was sitting with and she rushed out, “I’m sure she’s perfectly lovely! It’s just Henry is annoying.”

 

Thankfully Zelena laughed, not looking a bit offended. “I would imagine. Has he even checked in with her about this?” she asked. She gave Henry a pointed look that made him slide down further in his chair until he was in danger of disappearing under the table.

 

“Maybe not,” he muttered.

 

Regina rolled her eyes at her son, half in affection and half in irritation. “Let the girl live,” she said sternly.

 

“Alice is doing enough on her own,” Henry lifted his hands up in surrender. “Or didn’t I tell you that she managed to get the fire department called on her five times this week.”

 

“It was  _ three _ ,” Alice defended herself, face burning. “And it doesn’t count if it was the same firefighters over and over.”

 

“It absolutely does so count,” Henry said. “Double for crushing on one of them.”

 

“So how’s work, Ella?” Emma, Alice’s new favorite hero, interrupted them both.

 

“Busy,” Ella said emphatically. “It’s getting popular enough that Tiana has had to hire some new employees. Alice is helping, too.”

 

“For the summer,” Alice interjected. “Heaven help me if I tried to balance working at the café and going to school  _ and  _ TA-ing.”

 

“Only for the summer,” Ella agreed. “Plus, we got a booth at the pride parade next week. That’ll make us even busier.”

 

“I forgot that was next week,” Henry said with his mouth full. He swallowed thickly when five sets of eyes glared at him. “Aren’t you working that too, Alice?” he asked.

 

Alice nodded. “Not at Tiana’s booth. I’ll be doing face painting.”

 

It was fun, spending time with Henry and his family. It made her feel a little ache just below her heart, though. She’d had a lonely childhood, growing up, and being friends with Henry had stopped her from having a lonely adulthood. Her father tried, but he was only one person. She couldn’t help thinking that maybe her misfit band of firefighters, however new they were, might also make her world a little less lonely. The guys were sweet, Naveen seemed to be sliding himself comfortably into the role of big brother, Ruby was hysterical, and Mulan was a calming influence on everyone. And Robin…

 

Robin was complicated.

 

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her arm.

 

“You ok?” Emma asked, leaning over and ignoring where her wife and son were bickering good-naturedly over wedding plans.

 

Alice smiled at her. “I’m fine, Emma.” 

 

She looked skeptical but didn’t press further, which Alice was thankful for. Emma more than anyone would know what she was feeling right now.

 

When they left, Alice was passed around for another round of hugs. She was surprised when even Zelena joined in, squeezing her tightly before letting her go.

 

“It was a pleasure meeting you, my dear,” she said with warm twinkle in her eyes. “Something tells me we’ll be seeing each other more often.”

 

She was probably referring to the wedding, Alice decided. She nodded and smiled and waved as they got into their cars and drove off. Henry nudged her gently in the side.

 

“Ready to go?” he asked. He looked excited about something, happy like when he told her that a plot point he’d been trying to work into a story was finally clicking into place.

 

Alice rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

 

To her credit, the next time her fire alarm went off a few days later, it was not technically her fault.

 

All right, it was a  _ little bit  _ her fault, but she would never admit that to anyone. Not even if they pressed. She’d been tired from her first couple of shifts at Tiana’s café and had an entirely new respect for both Tiana and Ella and the sheer amount of work they’d put into everyday things. She’d set some leftovers to heat up and sat down on her couch because her feet hurt  _ so badly _ . She was still wearing an apron dotted with coffee stains and the blue shirt Tiana had given her as a uniform.

 

She’d meant to sit down for just a moment, put her head back, maybe close her eyes for a second, and then next thing she knew her fire alarm was waking her up.

 

She hurried to move everything off the stove and waved a dish towel underneath the alarm until it stopped its shrill beeping. She thought maybe, just maybe, she’d turned it off in time that the department wouldn’t be called, but that thought was dashed quickly when a heavy knock sounded at her door.

 

Her heart leapt, and she smoothed her hair down before she opened the door. Her smile dropped just a bit when she saw who was standing there.

 

“I have to say,” Ruby said, “I’m not usually greeted with disappointment.”

 

Alice tried to rearrange her face into something less surprised. “Sorry, Ruby!” she said. “There’s no fire this time.”

 

“No, it’s ok,” Ruby grinned slyly at her. “A little bruising to my ego maybe.”

 

“So this is 714,” Sean said as he nudged past Ruby and stepped over the threshold. He looked around curiously. “The cause of all the trouble.”

 

“I think I’m technically the cause of all the trouble,” Alice said sheepishly as she closed the door behind them both. “The apartment is just the scene of the crime.”

 

Sean squinted an eye at her and pointed comically. “So you admit to setting fires,” he said.

 

Alice lifted her hands up in false surrender. “You got me,” she deadpanned. “Take me to jail, coppers.”

 

“ _ Very _ different profession,” Ruby told her. She eyed the frying pan that held the culprit where it was sitting cooling down on the counter next to the stove. “Have you ever thought about maybe just investing in lots of takeout.”

 

“I swear I can cook,” Alice insisted. “I’ve never had this much of a problem with smoke alarms in my life.”

 

“Maybe your subconscious wants the fire department to show up?” Ruby suggested with a teasing look in her eyes.

 

Alice felt the mortification so keenly that she wanted to die. She  _ knew  _ she’d been too obvious. She could feel the heat crawling up her neck and into her ears and she looked away from Ruby to hide it. Sean’s snicker only made it worse. She didn’t know what to say to that, floundering like a fish out of water.

 

“It’s okay,” Ruby said loudly. “We’re all really amazing people. I can understand you wanting to hang out with us. Maybe just come over next time.”

 

Alice immediately felt like she could breathe easier. She eyed Ruby warily but all she got in return was an innocent grin that certainly didn’t fit her face.

 

“Oh!” Sean piped up from where he had been inspecting the paintings on Alice’s walls. “We’re having movie night on Thursday. You should totally come over!”

 

“I don’t think – ”

 

“You’re coming over,” Ruby interrupted.

 

Alice felt a smile start to tug at the corners of her lips. “So was that an invitation or a demand?”

 

“It was really more like a demand,” Ruby said with a shrug. “We all need some Alice time.”

 

This time her blush had nothing to do with the obviousness of her crush on Robin. “If you need more Alice time I could try to set a few things on fire more often,” she offered.

 

“Please don’t.”

 

“Ok, yes, I’ll come by for movie night,” Alice said. “Just have Robin or Naveen text me the specifics. Do I need to bring anything?”

 

“Your sparkling personality and the tie-breaker vote for movies,” Ruby said.

 

Alice laughed as she showed them out. “Got it.”

 

“And maybe text Robin,” Ruby told her just before she closed the door. “She was kind of freaking out that your alarm went off on her day off.”

 

Alice stared at the closed door for several long seconds before she walked over to her counter and grabbed her phone where it had been sitting in a basket next to her keys. She hovered her finger over Robin’s name for way too long before opening a message.

 

[Alice] Ruby said to tell you I’m not dead

 

The reply was quick enough that Robin must have already had her phone in her hand.

 

[Robin] What a coincidence I was about to kill Ruby

 

[Alice] Why?

 

[Robin] No particular reason. Fire house is feeling a little crowded.

 

[Alice] Then I guess you wouldn’t like that ruby invited me for movie night on Thursday?

 

[Robin] That’s the only smart thing Ruby has done in days

 

Alice laughed out loud at that. She knew she was grinning like a fool at her phone. If she was in public people would think that she was crazy. But she wasn’t in public, and she cradled the device in both hands, heart leaping when it vibrated again.

 

[Robin] So are you coming?

 

[Alice] Of course. Ruby said the station needed some ‘Alice time’

 

[Robin] We do.

 

Alice’s fingers hovered over her screen. Her heart pounded. She wanted to tap down and type “and what about you?”. The three bubbles popped up before she could gather the courage.

 

[Robin]  The rest of the degenerates get out of control when you’re not there

 

[Alice] Is that so?

 

[Robin] Yup. Complete insanity

 

[Alice] Guess I’ll just have to show up then

 

[Robin] The world thanks you for your service

 

Alice giggled. She wandered into her living room and sat down heavily on the couch, cheeks flushed and heart racing a little. Was this flirting? It felt a little like flirting, but it was so hard to tell over text. When her phone buzzed she felt it in all the bones in her body.

 

[Robin] What’d you set on fire this time?

 

[Alice] It wasn’t my fault

 

[Robin] You say that every time

 

[Alice] No I’ll admit the grilled cheese was my fault

 

[Robin] Screenshotting this for evidence

 

[Alice] Heeeeeeeeey

 

[Robin] Well when you finally get hauled in for arson I need to have proof that I was on to you early on

 

Alice rolled her eyes. [I am lacking many of the characteristics of serial arsonists, I’ll have you know]

 

[Robin] Except for the setting fire to things regularly part

 

[Alice] They’re accidents!

 

[Robin] And here I thought it was just because you enjoyed seeing my face so much

 

Alice nearly dropped her phone. That was…that  _ had  _ to be flirting. Didn’t it? Or was Robin just bouncing off the playfulness of their conversation. Ruby had also made a joke about setting off her fire alarm to see them more often, so maybe that was just an in-joke the firehouse had about her. Embarrassing but understandable if they did.

 

[Robin] Kidding. I get it. You’re just unfathomably unlucky in the kitchen

 

She knew she shouldn’t be so viscerally disappointed but she couldn’t help it.

 

[Alice] No just unfathomably tired with a tendency to get distracted at bad times

 

[Robin] You’re not cooking now, are you??? I won’t text you til you’re done if you are. As a firefighter I can’t be an accomplice to a fire

 

[Alice] No I’m not. And if I set the fire alarm again ten minutes after ruby and Sean showed up the first time I would move out of the state

 

[Robin] Please don’t. The fire part and the moving part. I’d miss you

 

[Robin] I mean getting called to your apartment

 

[Robin] It’s always an adventure to find out what you’ve set fire to this time

 

[Robin] My job would be far more boring if you weren’t around

 

Alice’s heart did a series of acrobatics inside her chest. She contemplated screenshotting the text and sending it to Henry for a second opinion but did not want the inevitable teasing that would come with that.

 

They texted on and off for the rest of the day. Alice explained about her new job at Tiana’s now that the spring semester was over, and how all she wanted to do was take a year long nap. Robin was not sympathetic. Alice discovered that firefighters work several days on in a row, and then have several days off in a row. She wouldn’t be back on shift until tomorrow. Her heart dropped and she scolded herself. Robin deserved her days off – also, she wasn’t planning on her fire alarm going off again anytime soon anyway!

 

She hadn’t planned on them going off the other times, but that was irrelevant.

 

She hadn’t realized they’d been speaking all day until she was texting Robin good night as she got changed for bed. Her hand stilled for a moment over the send button. In a rush of courage, she sent it anyway and then started to pull down her covers. Her phone buzzed when she was fully underneath them and already started to drift off to sleep.

 

[Robin] Sweet dreams

 

Yeah, they probably would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh alice you sweet dumb puppy of a human being


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The introduction of a new character or two, Alice has fun at movie night, and a little glimpse into her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was so distracted posting That Chapter of APL that i forgot to update FFAU. unforgivable. anyway here's your supposed-to-be-weekly dose of oblivious idiots in love

The next day the bell above the door of Tiana’s Café dinged just as she was in the middle of cleaning out the espresso machine. They’d hit their late morning lull and Alice wanted to get it fixed before the lunch rush started. She heard Aurora, the other employee that Tiana had hired to help with the new business, move to the front of the counter. Aurora was pretty and so soft-spoken that she surprised you with the fire behind her words. Alice liked her immensely.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

“Yeah, we heard this place had pretty good coffee?”

 

Alice’s head popped up. “Naveen!” she said with a big smile.

 

Naveen and Mulan grinned and waved at her. Naveen winked, and Alice rolled her eyes at him as she took her hands out of the entrails of the coffee machine and wiped them off on her apron.

“What are you two doing here?”

 

“Coffee run,” Mulan said. “Robin and August are outside watching the truck.”

 

Alice bit her lip to stop herself from saying something ridiculous, like that she was going to be taking her break early. Instead she smiled at a confused Aurora and motioned to her friends. “Aurora, these are some of my friends from the firehouse. The goofball is Naveen and the badass is Mulan.”

 

Aurora gave them a warm smile that lit up her face when she said hello. Mulan, to Alice’s surprise and delight, blushed. Alice did a double-take when she noticed the look in Aurora’s eyes as she greeted them, especially when she looked over at Mulan. She met Naveen’s eyes and he was smirking like the cat that ate the canary. She grinned back at him.

 

It was exceptionally amusing to sit back and watch the way that Aurora brushed her hair to the side and fluttered her eyelashes as she took the orders for the whole crew, and even more amusing to watch Mulan stutter and blush her way through giving them. Naveen made absolutely no attempt to interject himself into the conversation and Alice had a tough time keeping her laughter in check as she set about making the drinks.

 

The bell dinged again and Alice almost felt disappointed for Aurora that they’d have to deal with more customers and she’d have to cease her valiant attempts to woo Mulan, and then Robin’s voice said, “What in the world could possibly be taking you two so long?”

 

Alice’s hand twitched and coffee spilled over her wrist. Alice yelped and jerked back, hissing at the heat and sting that spread across the inside of her arm. Her elbow knocked into a mug and it fell and broke against the floor.

 

“Oh!” Aurora turned around, flirtation abandoned in favor of concern. Naveen and Mulan leaned forward, and Robin ran the last couple of steps to the counter.

 

“I’m fine,” she waved her hand at them, ignoring the way her skin was already turning red.

The door to the back opened and Tiana came out. She frowned when she saw the mess and frowned harder when she saw the way Alice was holding her hand.

 

“What happened?” she asked.

 

“I’m fine,” Alice insisted again. “I just spilled some coffee on myself.”

 

“I’ll grab the first aid kit.”

 

“No need!”

 

Everyone’s eyes looked at Naveen. His voice was slightly deeper when he said, “If we’re already here we might as well help out.” He was smiling at Tiana. Not his usual cocky, self-assured smile, but something softer and more nervous. Alice nearly laughed. Poor Naveen.

 

Alice rolled her eyes and bent down to start picking up the pieces of broken mug. “Everyone is overreacting,” she said. She winced as she felt a sharp edge bite into her palm and felt the blood that began to pool.

 

Tiana looked at her with sharp eyes. “Did you just cut yourself?”

 

“No?” Alice replied unconvincingly.

 

Robin made a noise and walked outside only to come back in with the same medical bag from the other night over her shoulder. She elbowed Naveen away when he went to take it from her. “C’mere,” she said. She sat down on one of the long benches against the wall. Alice almost protested that she just needed a bandage and some cold water until Tiana gave her a sharp poke in her side and pointed sternly towards Robin.

 

“Fine, I’m going,” she said with a sigh.

 

She sat down next to Robin on the bench, who moved closer to grab Alice’s wrist with gentle hands and pull it into her lap. Alice stopped breathing for a moment, too preoccupied with the closeness of her, the way her fingertips brushed along the skin on the inside of her wrist as she examined the burn, and the cute little furrow in her brow as she took a closer look at the cut.

 

“You know,” Robin said quietly, corners of her lips curled into a gentle smile, “between this and not wanting me to listen to your lungs the other day, I’m starting to think you’re a bad patient as well as a bad cook.”

 

“I’m a good cook!” Alice protested.

 

“Mmhmm, but you didn’t deny being a bad patient.”

 

“I got used to taking care of things on my own,” Alice blushed and ducked her head down. She wished her hair wasn’t up in a ponytail so it could cover her face a little. She worried at her bottom lip for a moment and maybe it was the warmth of her hands, or the proximity, or the way Robin blew a little bit of hair out of her eyes, but she blurted out, “None of my foster parents were ever the bandage it and kiss it better types.”

 

She didn’t know why she said it. She didn’t want sympathy, but Robin didn’t give her any, just a warm look that sent tingles down her spine. She didn’t say anything as she put gloves on and started to wipe the cut on her hand with gauze. “So you’re admitting you’re a bad patient,” Robin said.

 

That made Alice giggle. “Yes,” she sighed. She hissed as Robin started to gently dab the cut with antiseptic. Robin immediately blew on it to soothe the sting and Alice melted just a little, hopefully not in an obvious way. She had Alice make a fist to keep a bit of gauze over the cut and she spread some sort of aloe mixture on the burn on her wrist, and then wrapped them both together. When she was done she hesitated for just a moment before she lifted Alice’s hand and pressed a quick kiss just over the bandaged cut. Alice wasn’t sure if someone doing something nice for you was supposed to make you want to burst into tears. It was such a small, innocent gesture but she  _ felt  _ it.

 

“I think you’ll live,” Robin said. She smiled in that crooked way that set Alice’s heart aflutter, even though at this point she was sure it was impossible for her heart to be beating faster than it was.  

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Robin laughed and it sounded like music. “Yeah. Not bad. No stitches necessary even.”

 

No stitches, sure, but Alice was pretty sure she was going to need CPR soon. “Right,” she said, almost breathless. “Good. Thanks.”

 

“Can we not make a habit of injuries too, though?” Robin asked. “Your arson career is bad enough.”

 

Alice smiled at her. “I keep telling you it’s just a side gig.”

 

Someone sneezed, and Alice came back to herself with a jolt, suddenly vividly aware that she and Robin were pressed together knee to knee, leaning towards each other, with her hand still in Robin’s lap. She tugged her hand back while Robin scooted further away.

 

“Sorry,” Naveen scrubbed at his nose with his sleeve.

 

“Bless you,” Tiana said, and then hit him in the arm with a tissue.

 

Mulan’s radio made a loud noise that had nearly everyone jumping and she murmured an answer into it before looking up at them. “Duty calls,” she said, and Alice saw Robin sigh. August beeped the loud horn out front.

 

Tiana waved them off as Naveen started to dig into his pockets for his wallet. “Don’t worry about it, handsome. On the house.”

 

It was hysterical to watch the way Naveen practically tripped over himself as he gathered up the coffees and walked to the door. Robin was the last to leave, turning to mouth ‘Thursday?’ and waiting for Alice to nod before she left completely.

 

Alice’s brain still felt fuzzy and jumbled when she walked back behind the counter. Both Aurora and Tiana were looking at her.

 

“What?” she asked.

 

“That was ridiculous,” Tiana said.

 

Alice immediately started to apologize. “Sorry about the mug – ”

 

“No, not that! You’re fine. You really don’t see it, huh?”

 

Alice frowned. “See what?” she asked.

 

Tiana rubbed at the bridge of her nose like she was trying to fend off a headache. “Nothing,” she said finally. “Robin seems nice.”

 

“That was Robin?” Aurora asked, eyes wide. “Like… _ the  _ Robin? Crush Robin?”

 

Alice blushed so furiously she could probably heat up the next coffee they had to make all on her own. “Ok, we don’t need to call her crush Robin.”

 

“We absolutely need to call her crush Robin,” Tiana said with a smirk. Aurora giggled.

 

“Don’t either of you start with me,” Alice picked up a towel and pointed it threateningly at them. “No comments from the peanut gallery. Not from miss ‘let’s flirt so hard with Mulan we don’t write any orders down’ or miss ‘tell handsome Naveen it’s on the house’. I’m not the only person in this room with a crush on a firefighter.”

 

They spluttered their answers at her but were cut off when an actual new customer came in. Alice smiled smugly at them and went to take his order.

 

* * *

 

 

Alice noticed her phone buzzing only after she got out of the shower the next morning. Tiana had given her the day off and she was going to use it to relax and get some artwork in. Her nerves jolted when she saw who it was.

 

[Robin] good morning firebug. what do you like on your pizza?

 

[Alice] why?

 

[Robin] we figured we shouldn’t risk cooking around you. don’t want to burn the station down.

 

Alice was caught between laughing and groaning. If she knew becoming friends with a group of firefighters was going to come with this much grief she may have rethought her decisions. She was a good cook! Most of the time. If she focused.

 

[Alice] not fair. it’s not like I’d be cooking.

 

[Robin] AHA

  
  


[Robin] you admit your cooking is a problem!

 

[Alice] i am a GREAT cook. someday I’ll make you one of my world-famous omelettes.

 

Alice nearly dropped her phone as she realized she’d essentially just offered to make Robin breakfast. Making someone breakfast didn’t necessarily mean they’d stayed over the night before but damn if her brain didn’t immediately go there.

 

[Robin] world famous huh?

 

[Alice] well my dad likes them and he’s irish and I like them and I’m half English so…sort of?

 

[Robin] obviously an American should like them to confirm this

 

This time Alice did drop her phone. She was leaning over her counter at the time so thankfully it only dropped a few inches onto the countertop. Did Robin just agree to have Alice cook her breakfast?

 

[Robin] so pizza toppings?

 

[Alice] don’t judge…but pineapple

 

[Robin] you’re one of those!!!

 

[Alice] it’s good! the balance of salty and sweet

 

[Robin] on no I’m team pineapple but I’m alone at the firehouse so I never get it

 

[Alice] well now you can use me as an excuse :)

 

Robin sent back a smiley emoji in response and Alice paused. This was flirting. This  _ had  _ to be flirting. Didn’t it? She was thankful when Robin went on to tell her about the deer they’d rescued from a fence earlier.

 

She thought furiously about the texts for the whole rest of the day, trying to decide if she was coloring them in a certain way because of what she wanted. She almost even texted to beg out of movie night saying that she felt sick. But…well she genuinely enjoyed hanging out with her firefighters, was starting to think of them as actual friends and didn’t want to miss out on time with them just because her crush on Robin was getting stronger and harder to control with each day.

 

Alice just walked right inside and up the stairs as she’d been instructed, and Graham cheered when she walked through the door.

 

“Finally, some sensibility!” he said. “Alice, tell them I’m right.”

 

“I’m not falling into that trap,” Alice said immediately. August and Ruby, who had been busy opening pizza boxes in the kitchen, burst into laughter. “What are you supposedly right about?”

 

“Pineapple on pizza is heathen behavior and shouldn’t be accepted in polite society.”

 

“Sorry, Graham. I’m team pineapple.”

 

Robin peeked her head around the corner to greet her with a big grin. “Told you! I told you Alice said we should get it.”

 

“I thought you were lying so you could get it this time,” Graham grumbled. He threw up his hands and walked away.

 

Robin came fully into the kitchen, still grinning triumphantly, all dimples and bright eyes in a way that made Alice swoon on the inside.

 

“Ok, the grossly perfect match made in heaven can come get their heathen pizza now,” Ruby said.

 

Alice’s eyes darted over to Ruby. She was smirking at them and holding out two plates with pieces of pineapple pizza stacked on them. Robin huffed and practically snatched the plates before very gently handing one to Alice.

 

The rest of the crew were all squished into the rec room. They’d dragged the armchairs from the corner closer to the couch and the TV and they’d been claimed by Mulan and Sean. Robin grabbed Alice’s hand and pulled her to the couch, settling them next to Naveen and leaving Ruby and Phillip to sprawl out on the floor with pillows.

 

“What are we watching?” Phillip asked around mouthful of pizza crust.

 

“We’re the heathens but no one mentions that he eats his pizza crust first?” Robin drawled.

 

Ruby made a face at him. “You’re so weird,” she said, and rolled her eyes when he took a bigger bite of crust spitefully.

 

“We’re watching the  _ IT  _ reboot,” Mulan said over them. “It was Sean’s turn to pick.”

 

Alice put her plate down and made like she was going to stand up off the couch. “Well, it was nice hanging out with you guys, but I have to go.”

 

Robin laughed and tugged the back of her sweater to pull her back down. “Baby,” she said.

 

Alice whipped her head around to look at her with widening eyes. “What?”

 

“I said you’re being a baby,” Robin said as Naveen started to cough next to her. He waved Alice off when she looked at him in concern, telling her it was just air down the wrong pipe.

She picked her plate back up and started to nibble a little on the end of her pizza as Sean got up to put the DVD in.

 

“We can watch something else,” Robin offered. Sean paused in his DVD hunting to give her a betrayed look.

 

Alice shook her head. “No, it’s ok.” She said. “But I’m going home alone tonight. Just don’t be surprised if you get a fire call at 3 AM, ok?

 

“You can take one of us home with you,” Graham said. He tilted his head and batted his eyelashes. Alice rolled her eyes at him and Robin kicked him in the hip.

 

“Naveen is like a big teddy bear and Robin gives good cuddles,” Ruby offered.

 

“Ruby is a clingy drunk,” Robin explained when Alice looked at her curiously.

 

“Hey, I just get a little handsy.”

 

“Too handsy,” Robin and Mulan scoffed at the same time.

 

Sean made an impatient huffing noise as he stood next to the TV. “Can we start now?” he asked.

 

August walked into the space with his arms full of large bowls of popcorn and set them down on the end tables and the coffee table. “Now we can start,” he said as he settled on the floor next to Phillip.

 

“ _ Thank  _ you,” Sean drawled. He hit the lights and Alice giggled through her knotting stomach when someone – she suspected Graham – faked a scream of fright. She didn’t super like horror movies and maybe should have spoken up when Robin offered to change it, but she already felt like she was intruding on their movie night as it was.

 

Alice commended herself on getting mostly through the first couple minutes of the movie without jumping. When the clown appeared in the sewer drain she was less confident in herself. During the first loud scare she jumped with a squeak and instinctively moved into the arm Robin put around her and leaned heavily into her side.

 

“Is it the clown or the scares?” Robin asked softly.

 

Alice’s reply was an emphatic, all-encompassing, “yes” that made Robin’s body move against her as she chuckled. Phillip shushed them and Alice, her head now firmly tucked into Robin’s shoulder, stuck her tongue out at him.

 

Robin was much better at horror movies than her. The bits that made her squeeze her eyes shut and bury her face in Robin’s shirt didn’t seem to bother her. If she jumped at all during them she jumped late, usually behind everyone else in the room. Alice concentrated less on the movie and more on the warmth of Robin pressed against her. Robin smelled like the shirt Alice had borrowed and not yet cleaned to give back. Like soap and fresh air and something warm. It was not helping her not fall even deeper one bit, but it was helping her survive the horror film.

 

She was relieved and disappointed when the credits started to roll.

 

“You know they’re making another one,” Ruby said. She tilted her head backwards against the couch and noticed their position. “Um, rude. Why wasn’t I invited?”

 

“Were you scared, Rube?” Robin asked.

 

“No,” Ruby lied.

 

Robin pulled her arm from around Alice’s shoulders and stretched as she stood up. Alice felt the loss keenly, but also knew she didn’t have the excuse of a horror movie to cuddle up to Robin anymore.

 

“Who’s got next pick?” Robin asked at the end of her stretch.

 

“Technically me,” August said. “But Alice is the guest.” He made a sweeping half-bow from his spot on the floor and gestured to the bookcase next to the TV.

 

Alice walked over and perused the titles for a moment. “Quick question. How many firefighter themed movies do you even own?”

 

“Too many,” Mulan said, in a tone of voice that said this had been brought up a lot. 

 

“Robin, what do you want to watch?” Alice called.

 

“Hey! It’s not her turn!” Graham threw a handful of popcorn at Alice and then looked sheepish as Mulan told him to clean that up.

 

Alice scrunched her face up at him. “It’s my turn and I’m asking for her opinion.”

 

“Semantics.”

 

“I’m good with anything unless it’s a sports movie,” Robin said as she walked back in with a fresh bowl of popcorn.

 

One of them caught her eye and Alice paused. Her whole face lit up. She pulled it out immediately. August laughed when he saw what was in her hands and told her it was an excellent choice.

 

She held up _The Princess Bride_. “Can we watch this?” she asked hopefully.

 

Robin grinned and gave her a little bow as she sat back down on the couch. “As you wish,” she said. She grunted when Naveen leaned over and punched her in the bicep. “Ow. What?”

 

“The was the cheesiest way you could have answered that,” he said.

 

Alice sat pointedly down between them and they made faces at each other over her head. “Knock if off,” she warned them as the movie started to play. They both settled down, Robin giving her a wink as they did so.

 

Watching the movie was…an experience. Alice adored this movie and apparently so did everyone else in the room. Robin leaned over to say Wesley’s lines and dramatically threw herself nearly over the side of the arm of the couch at the attack after, “Rodents of unusual size? I don’t believe they exist.” August and Graham stood up and enacted the entire scene of the duel on the cliffs of despair, and then again with the duel at the end of the movie, complete with Graham’s absolutely horrendous accent during, “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Ruby was a pitch-perfect Max.

 

They were all laughing so loudly that partway through the movie, during the wrestling match between the Man in Black and Fezzik, a short, scruffy man wandered through rubbing at his eyes. Alice had never seen him before but the scowl on his face made her think this was probably the elusive Grumpy.

 

“I was sleeping,” he complained.

 

“Sorry Leroy,” Mulan said around giggles.

 

He paused on his way back out to grumble along to, “My way is not very sportsman-like.” And he winked at Alice when she looked at him.

 

Everyone cheered when the heroes rode off into the sunset and Naveen stretched his arms out. “One more?” he suggested.

 

Alice looked at her watch. It was only just past 11. She knew that they could sleep whenever they wanted, and she didn’t have anything to do in the morning, so she nodded when everyone else agreed. August took advantage of his turn to pick some sort of superhero movie. Alice fell asleep about a half hour in. She woke up to a shrill ringing sound and Robin gently lowering her to lay down on the couch.

 

“Whas goin’ on?” she asked.

 

“We’re getting a call,” Robin said. Oh, so that was the ringing noise.

 

“’K,” Alice blinked blearily up at her, trying to get the sleep out of her eyes. “I’ll go home.”

Robin pressed down on her shoulder. “No, it’s ok. Go back to sleep. You can be here when we get back.”

 

Sleep sounded very good right then. She closed her eyes again and rubbed her cheek against the couch cushion underneath her. “Be careful,” she mumbled. She was never quick to wake up and even with the ringing of the bell she was still foggy with sleep. There was a brief, warm pressure against her cheek and then the sound of Robin’s boots jogging away.

 

It was only once the shrieking of the sirens had faded into the distance that Alice came awake entirely. The room was dark, but the TV was on its automatic shut-down mode, like maybe everyone else had also drifted off to sleep during the movie. The whole firehouse was quiet. The other times she’d been there it always had someone in it and now it felt empty. She could swear even her breathing echoed, the way spaces reflect sound quietly after something loud has passed through.

 

She was still tired but in that halfway stage where her body still remembered being asleep and wanted to get back to it as soon as possible and her mind was whirring. The station was quiet because they were out on a call. She stood up and picked up the rec room; folding blankets, piling dirty plates and bowls together and putting them in the sink, pushing the armchairs back to their spots in the corner. She cleaned and washed the dishes and tried not to think about how last time she did that Robin was there to help. She paced and picked up, but mostly she  _ worried _ .

 

For a moment she contemplated texting someone and checking in. Not even just Robin, maybe Naveen or Ruby. She talked herself out of it. They were on a job and she shouldn’t distract them.

 

Finally, she’d worked herself to the point where she was back to being exhausted and she walked down the hallway to where Robin had told her the bunks were. She thought about going home, but Robin had wanted her to stay. The door on the right had a “no boys allowed” sign on it, which made her smile, and when she went in it was easy to see she was in the right spot. Two sets of bunk-beds were on opposite walls. They all had different pillows and bedding on them. One, the top bunk on the left, had bare white sheets but was piled high with junk and knick-knacks.

 

It was entertaining to be able to look at the beds and guess who they belonged to. The bright red sheets on the top right bunk could only be Ruby’s. She could also spot the edge of a picture. When she stood on her tiptoes she could see it was Ruby with her face mushed against an older woman in a selfie. Her grandmother, probably, the one with the diner she’d mentioned. The pale green sheets on the bottom left bunk was certainly Mulan’s. The bed was made with precision corners, the blanket tucked neatly and firmly below the mattress. That left the soft, inviting blue sheets on the bottom right to be Robin’s. She wasn’t sure if she felt comfortable laying down in the beds of the other two girls, since Robin had been the one who told her to stay, and some of the things on the bunk without colored sheets looked too heavy to move. She laid down and rested her head on the pillow. She breathed in deeply, immersing herself in the scent that she was coming to think of simply as “Robin”. Her brain kept whirling. How many nights had Robin laid her head here? How many nights had her sleep been interrupted by the siren so that she’d gone running off to save the day.

 

She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Not really. She’d just wanted to rest. She didn’t think sleep was possible when she still felt that coil of anxiety in her stomach, but at some point exhaustion must have taken over. A warm nudge brought her briefly back to semi-consciousness at one point and she scooted closer to the wall before drifting right back to sleep, not a nightmare in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ACTUAL DUMB PUPPIES 
> 
> is inviting a civilian over to the firehouse to hang out allowed? nope! is leaving her there when everyone else leaves on a call allowed? absolutely not! is it going to happen in this story over and over? you bet your ass!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice wakes up in the firehouse and has a good talk with her dad.

Alice woke up pressed against something warm. Her sleepy mind didn’t catch up in time to stop her from nuzzling into Robin’s back and inhaling; soap and fresh air, now with an undercurrent of smoke. 

 

Her hand froze in the act of pulling Robin closer by the hip as her brain came awake all at once. She stilled completely, and Robin let out a sleepy sigh and moved closer on her own.

 

“G’ back to sleep,” she said. “’S too early.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Alice said back. “Did I fall asleep in your bunk?”

 

Robin’s voice sounded more awake when she answered, “Only because Ruby thinks the spare bunk is her walk-in closet.”

 

“It’s fine,” Alice said. She didn’t move away but she didn’t move closer either. “I was in your space.”

 

“Imma need you both to shut up,” Ruby said from above them. The frame of the bunkbeds squeaked a little when Ruby rolled over.

 

“I was apologizing,” Robin growled. “Since you wouldn’t move your shit last night.”

 

“I said it’s ok,” Alice said with a smile.

 

Ruby’s head suddenly appeared, hanging upside down to see them from the top bunk, more awake then she probably ought to be. Her hair hung around her face like a dark curtain. “I offered to let her snuggle with me,” she said.

 

Robin groaned and threw her arm across her eyes. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep.”

 

Alice rolled her head to the side to avoid being knocked in the face with Robin’s elbow. It was not a large bed. Robin lifted her arm to look at Alice through the gap under her elbow sheepishly. “Sorry,” she mouthed.

 

Ruby’s head disappeared when someone knocked on the door. “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” Naveen said. “Literally. We made breakfast.”

 

Robin rolled out of bed – actually rolled – and landed on her knees on the floor. She stood up, shuffled over to the door, and opened it to see Naveen bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on the other side. He grinned at Alice over Robin’s shoulder. “I hate you, Rana,” Robin said grumpily.

 

“We made pancakes,” Naveen said like a peace offering. “We figured it was okay to cook since Alice was asleep.”

 

Ruby snorted. Alice hit the mattress above her. Robin left the door open but dragged her feet back to the bed and slumped onto it, her head falling dangerously close to Alice’s and her hair falling over her face.  

 

“I need at least sixteen more hours of sleep,” she mumbled. She sighed when Alice brushed her hair off her forehead for her.

 

Ruby seemed to have fully woken up by that point. Alice could see her leg swinging down over the side. It looked like she was trying to kick Robin but couldn’t quite suss out where they were beneath her. Alice tickled the bottom of her foot and Ruby yelped and pulled it back. She had to lean over Robin to do it, but Robin laughed when she realized what was happening. Ruby climbed down correctly and regarded the two of them with sharp, knowing eyes. Alice felt slightly exposed. She sat up and leaned against the wall, blankets pooling in her lap. Ruby smirked at her.

 

“I’m going to breakfast,” she said. “You two can stay here if you want.”

 

“Good,” Robin yawned and closed her eyes again. “I need my beauty sleep.”

 

“You look alright to me,” Alice’s mouth said without any input from her brain. She scrambled to cover herself. “Ruby, on the other hand…”

 

“Hey!”

 

Alice giggled at the way Ruby huffed and flipped her hair dramatically as she stormed off, but her giggles stopped abruptly when Robin rolled over and snuggled against her side. It was more like against her stomach since she was sitting up.

 

“You don’t want to go to breakfast?” Alice asked a little shakily.

 

“Breakfast isn’t done yet,” Robin mumbled. “You’re warm. I’m tired. Saved someone last night.”

 

Alice put her hand gently on top of Robin’s head and started to brush her hand through her hair, fingers lingering to scratch at her scalp occasionally. From the way Robin’s body melted into the mattress if a human being was able to physically purr she thought Robin might have started doing it.

 

“You saved someone last night?”

 

“Mmhmm,” was the sleepy affirmation.

 

Any other conversation was going to be short lived. She could hear the way Robin’s breathing was evening out and feel the way her body was getting heavier. She kept up the gentle back and forth motion of her hand even after she was sure Robin was back asleep. There were no windows in the bunkroom so the only light coming in was from the open door and the sunlit hallway. It bathed Robin in a warm golden light. Alice sighed happily.

 

Robin was beautiful. Lovely and kind. She was brave, and she was sweet, and she made Alice laugh. She brought new people into Alice’s life: goofballs, mostly, with hearts of gold.

 

And Alice was definitely more than a little in love with her.

 

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn’t even notice when Mulan came into the room until she knocked lightly on the doorframe. Her head popped up and her hand stopped moving, resting lightly at the back of Robin’s neck.

 

“She go back to sleep? Good,” she said after Alice nodded. “She did a hell of a thing last night. She deserves the extra sleep.”

 

“She mentioned saving someone?” Alice asked quietly.

 

Mulan huffed a laugh. “She must be really tired if she’s bragging about it.” She smiled gently at Alice. “I’ll tell you now, so the boys don’t butcher it later. Someone was hiding from the fire in their closet. Robin noticed and that’s the only reason no one died last night.”

 

A swell of pride rose in Alice’s chest as she looked down at Robin’s peaceful face. Robin’s cheek twitched in her sleep and Alice started to rub soothingly at the soft skin on the back of her neck until she settled again.  

 

Mulan shook her head. “I think you’re good for this place” she said. “Wake her up, though. She needs to eat as much as she needs to sleep.” She left, and Alice heard her shouting at everyone else that they had to wait before they started eating.

 

Alice rubbed Robin’s shoulder. “Robin.” No reaction. Pulse racing, she leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. That elicited a little murmur. She rubbed her shoulder again.  “Robin.”

 

“Hmmm?”

 

Alice grinned at the sleepy whine that was her only response. “Breakfast time,” she said.

 

“Not breakfast time. Told you.”

 

“It’s breakfast time now,” Alice countered. “You fell back asleep.”

 

There was a brief pause as Robin’s brain caught up to that. “For how long?” she asked, voice a little clearer.

 

“Ten minutes.”

 

Robin sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, breaking into a yawn in the middle of stretching. “It does smell good,” she admitted.

 

“If we don’t get out there soon it’s all gonna be gone,” Alice prodded her.

 

“You better not be eating my bacon, Naveen!” Robin shouted down the hall.

 

“It’s not your bacon if you’re not eating it, hero!”

 

Robin sighed and stood up finally, leaving room for Alice to shuffle off the bed and get to her feet. Robin’s bedhead made part of her hair ruffled on the left side. It was arguably the most adorable thing Alice had ever seen.

 

Despite Mulan’s yelling it seemed everyone had already started to dig in by the time they walked out into the kitchen. Naveen at least had the grace to look sheepish around his chipmunk cheeks full of pancakes. Sitting at the table, plate piled high with pancakes and bacon and eggs, Ruby gently knocking her elbow into her ribs and making fun of her for putting ketchup on her eggs, Alice felt bubbly with happiness. Robin caught her eye from across the table and smiled with syrup smeared on the corner of her mouth. Everyone seemed to freeze when a tall, stocky man walked into the room and started to make his own plate.

 

“Hey, Chief,” Naveen greeted.

 

The man nodded at them and then did a double-take, his eyes narrowing as he took in the table. “Who are you?” he asked.

 

Robin hurriedly swallowed her bite of pancake. “This is Alice,” she said.

 

“We kind of adopted her,” Naveen added.

 

The man sighed and ran a hand over his balding head. “Just don’t take her on a ride-along without permission,” he said. He sighed again when Ruby gave him a little salute and walked out with his plate of food.  

 

Ruby let out a hissing, “Yes!”

 

“Does this mean Alice is our mascot now?” Phillip asked. He laughed when Mulan flicked a napkin at him. “What? I feel like we brought a kitten home and now mom and dad say we can keep her.”

 

Alice blushed. The napkin reminded her, though… “Mulan, here.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the Tiana’s Café napkin Aurora had given her. “I almost forgot to give this to you.”

 

Mulan took it curiously and then blushed so brilliantly when she saw what it was that Alice burst into laughter. Graham nearly knocked his chair over standing up to get a look. “Is that a girl’s number?” he asked.

 

The teasing immediately shifted from Alice to Mulan. Robin smirked at her, a twinkle in her eye that said she knew Alice did that on purpose, and Alice winked at her.

 

Eric was taking his turn with the dishes when the alarm started to ring again. Everyone looked up, instantly on alert, and listened carefully as a dispatch started to list off terms Alice couldn’t begin to comprehend. It made sense to them, though, because they broke off into teams. Robin stutter-stepped as she turned towards the stairs.

 

“I’m really going home this time,” Alice told her. “I’ll text you later.”

 

Robin nodded and smiled at her, a crooked tilt of her lips, and then she ran down the stairs. Mulan, August, and Phillip were still there this time. Alice looked at them curiously.

 

“They don’t need everyone all the time,” Mulan answered the unspoken question. She took over Eric’s dish duty and accepted Alice’s help. “You going to Pride tomorrow?”

 

“Yeah!” Alice said enthusiastically. “I’ve got a booth for face painting right near the one Tiana has for her café.” She smirked at Mulan. “You should stop by and say hi to Aurora. She’s manning it between 12 and 3.”

 

Mulan bumped her in the hip and Alice giggled. “Brat,” Mulan muttered.

 

The trucks still weren’t back by the time she had run out of excuses to stay, which Mulan assured her wasn’t unusual. Alice extracted a promise to have Robin or Naveen text her when they were back safe and went home. Everything was quieter and emptier in her apartment. She wound up calling her father and talking for a bit about his time out at sea and when he thought he’d be coming home. She told him about her new friends – although not how they became her new friends.

 

The connection wasn’t great, but she could hear the teasing in his voice when he said, “So I’ve heard the name Robin about six times…”

 

Alice groaned. “Not you too,” she said.

 

“Not me too, what?” he asked.

 

“Pretty much every single person in my life keeps bringing up my crush on Robin. The only person who hasn’t seemed to notice it is Robin.”

 

“Love, you were never one to keep your heart off your sleeve.” She could picture the look on his face when he said that, the gentle affection that he always had especially for her.

 

“I’ve known her for a month,” Alice sighed. “I can’t be in lo- I can’t have any really strong feelings yet. That’s too much.”

 

“Feelings are never too much. Listen, Starfish, I know I wasn’t there for you growing up – ”

 

“You didn’t even know about me!” Alice interrupted him, a call and response they’d repeated time and time again. 

 

Every time he brought up her childhood was a sentence Alice hated. He always sounded so downtrodden, so guilty in a way that he shouldn’t. He’d come for her once he knew she existed. He’d fought for her once he knew he had a daughter. She didn’t blame him for her early life - the part with her mother or the part in the system - but it was obvious he blamed himself. 

 

“I know, I know,” he said, still with the undercurrent of guilt. “But my point stands. If you like this girl as much as you say you do, you owe it to yourself to try.”

 

“I’ll think about it,” Alice hedged.

 

She heard the way his sigh crackled over the phone line. “If you don’t do it by the time I get back I’m going to bully you into it,” he threatened.

 

Alice laughed. “Sure you are, you big softy.”

 

The conversation moved away from Alice, thankfully, and she ended it with a promise that she would wish Henry the best on his wedding day for him. Just before she hung up she heard her father shout, “And talk to Robin!”

Alice sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s late and a little shorter than normal BUT next chapter is Alice’s booth at the Seattle Pride Festival and it is an Adventure I promise


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures at Seattle Pride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief disclaimer: I have never had the pleasure of going to Seattle Pride, so it is based off of my experiences with Providence Pride.

The Saturday morning of the Seattle Pride festival dawned a brilliantly gorgeous summer day. Not a single cloud dotted the sky – unusual enough for Seattle that it should be celebrated. Alice took her time getting ready. She wasn’t supposed to be at her booth until 10. She curled her hair and then put it into a ponytail. It was so swelteringly hot outside without clouds that she wore shorts and a tank top over a rainbow bra. It was Pride, so she wasn’t worried about the bra would be visible through white color of the shirt and the open sides. She knew her outfit would be downright conservative compared to some others. She had to spend an extra fifteen minutes liberally applying sunscreen because her skin had spent its entire life going red the moment the sun hit it directly. At 9:30 she packed up her paint supplies into her backpack and headed out.

 

Alice  _ loved  _ the energy of Pride. Everyone was loud and bright and happy. The whole city seemed to be buzzing with energy and it invigorated her.

 

Tiana’s booth was already being set up when she arrived at her spot. Ella waved cheerfully at her as she put stacks and stacks of baked goods on display. Tiana was manning the portable fryers, and even two tables down Alice could hear the sizzle and pop of the oil as she made her now signature beignets.

 

“You guys need some help?” Alice called over.

 

Tiana wiped her wrist across her forehead and shook her head, grinning at Alice. “You kidding? I’m in my element!”

 

“I’ll help  _ you _ , though!” Henry bounced over. He was fully decked out in rainbow gear and it made Alice giggle. “What?” he asked.

 

“How much money did you spend on those beaded necklaces?” she asked him.

 

“Not enough,” he answered.

 

He helped her set up her painting station, lining up her paints by shades for her as Alice got her brushes and sponges ready. She laid out the big book of examples for people to flip through and made sure the sign with her prices was taped to the front. She could already see some people eyeing her table, but Henry was the one who sat down first. “I want to look amazing,” he said seriously as he handed her a ten dollar bill.

 

Alice rolled her eyes at him but got to work. “You know I appreciate you, right?” He couldn’t answer her since she was painting his cheek, but he gave her a curious look. “Not a lot of straight guys are comfortable enough to go all out at pride.”

 

He tapped her arm so she’d stop painting. “It’s because I’m awesome,” he quipped. “Between my moms, you, my cousin who I’m definitely not trying to set you up with anymore because you’ll yell at me- Ow!” She’d poked him in the cheek with the non-bristle end of her brush. He glared at her. “I’m just out here living my best life. Helping my fiancée sell baked goods. In very bright colors.”

 

Alice rolled her eyes at him but kissed the cheek she wasn’t working on. Henry was a good one. When she was finished with him he had a wave of color across the left side of his face and he proudly showed it off to Ella.

 

She spent the next few hours happily painting the faces of everyone who came up to her. Kids, adults, seniors. She painted every pride flag under the sun. A little after noon Mulan came up in full uniform, handed her a twenty, and sat still for nearly fifteen minutes while Alice painted a dragon in the lesbian pride colors on her cheek. When she was finished she grinned more broadly than Alice had ever seen her smile and walked straight over to Tiana’s booth. Ella and Henry had disappeared as soon as Aurora showed up, with Ella excitedly dragging Henry to the carnival part of the festivities. Alice watched Aurora visibly swoon when Mulan approached and she laughed.

 

“What’re you laughing about?” a familiar voice asked.

 

Every nerve in Alice’s body jumped to attention. “Robin!” Robin looked gorgeous in the summer sun, warm and pretty and smiling at her. Alice felt a glow in every part of her body. “I’m laughing at Aurora.”

 

Robin eyed the booth were Mulan and Aurora were leaning towards each other and talking and she shook her head. “I get so much shit at the station and she’s over there nearly falling over herself,” she said.

 

“Get so much shit for what?” Alice asked.

 

Robin flushed. “Nothing,” she said. “How’s the face painting going?”

 

“Brilliantly,” Alice rattled her lockbox of money. It was significantly heavier than when she’d started. “Please tell me your shift has been boring?”

 

“Very,” Robin assured her. “A scraped knee and one or two cases of dehydration. We’re really here just in case.”

 

“And to run our kissing booth,” Ruby said. She sauntered over with rainbow licorice hanging out the side of her mouth and when she grinned there were spots of the colors on her lips and tongue. “Did you know they’re selling rainbow colored candy over there?”

 

Alice was way more focused on the first thing she’d said. “You’re running your  _ what _ ?” she asked.

 

Robin rubbed at the back of her neck and flushed a deeper shade of red. “Our kissing booth,” she said with a sigh. “The city asked if we wanted to have a booth at the festival and we said sure and then made the mistake of letting Ruby and Naveen decide what we would do with it.”

 

“You guys wanted to hand out fire safety pamphlets,” Ruby said with an eyeroll. “Our idea is way more entertaining.”

 

“We’re giving the money to charity,” Robin rushed to say.

 

Alice’s mind was still locked on the phrase kissing booth. The fire department was running a  _ kissing booth _ . Her whirlwind of thought was cut short when Ruby sat heavily down on the chair in front of her and stuffed money into her lockbox. It looked like way more than Alice was charging for face paint but she didn’t see it very clearly.

 

“I want bisexual colored flames, please,” Ruby said.

 

“Your wish is my command. Don’t talk while I do it or it’ll mess up the paint,” she warned.

 

Ruby made a zipping motion over her lips and Robin scoffed. “My God, you’re actually getting her to shut up?”

 

Alice grabbed Ruby’s chin as she turned her head to glare at Robin and pulled her head back around. “And don’t move your head!”

 

She set to work. The flames themselves she painted up the curve of Ruby’s jaw to her ear, having them lick over her cheekbones and stop just under her eye. She outlined them in black and gold and then shaded them in the blues, pinks, and purples she’d requested. When she was finished Alice leaned her head back to look.

 

“Not bad,” she decided.

 

“Not bad?!” Robin gaped at her. “That looks amazing. Ruby, your face is actually pretty.”

 

“I’d tell you to go fuck yourself but I’m way too happy about this.” Ruby said as she examined her cheek in the mirror Alice gave her. “These look so good, Alice!”

 

“Do you want glitter?”

 

Ruby scoffed, looking at her with disbelief. “‘Do I want glitter?’ she asks. Of course, I want glitter!”

 

Alice grabbed her cheese-grater tube of glitter and sprinkled it liberally over Ruby’s cheek, so the shiny specks caught on the still-wet paint. Ruby looked exceedingly happy with herself and didn’t even try to brush off the glitter that got on her uniform shirt.

 

“You know that glitter is going to stay there for the rest of your life now, don’t you?” Robin teased.

 

“The glitter was already in my soul, Robin,” Ruby said. “Now it’s just on the outside too.” She continued to turn the mirror back and forth in her hands until Robin walked over and shoved her in the back.

 

“Out of the chair,” Robin demanded. “Other people want their faces painted.”

 

“No one as important as me,” Ruby hit her away but stood up and handed the mirror back to Alice. “Thank you, you’re my favorite.”

 

“Can I have that in writing?” Alice asked. Ruby stuck her tongue out at her.

 

Robin sat in the chair and tilted her face up. She flicked the end of her braid behind her shoulder so it was clear of her cheek and neck area.

 

Alice busied herself with cleaning off her brushes. “So what do you want?” she asked.

 

“My face is your canvas,” Robin said with a grin. “Turn it into a work of art.”

 

It was the sun. It was the heat of the sun, and she hadn’t been drinking enough water, probably, and her dad’s voice telling her to go for it was still ringing in her ears, because her mouth opened and what came out was, “Your face is already a work of art.”

 

Robin’s jaw dropped, and she grinned at Alice in a mix of delight and confusion. Ruby barked out a laugh so loud that Tiana, Mulan, and Aurora all looked over at them.

 

Alice turned her face to the sky and sighed at herself. She’d barreled right past embarrassment and gone directly into kill-me-now mortification. At least when she looked at Robin again it didn’t look like she was too put off by the whole thing.

 

“How many times have you used that line today?” Ruby asked. “That was beautiful.”

 

“Just now,” Alice mumbled. She turned to the table and mixed her colors just a little more vigorously than was necessary. When she scooted closer to Robin for a better angle she was still smiling at her, a soft uptick in the corners of that full mouth that made Alice’s mouth go dry. “You sure you don’t have a preference?”

 

“Go crazy,” Robin encouraged.

 

Alice hadn’t really taken into consideration how close she had to get to people when she painted their faces until she was cupping the side of Robin’s face to keep her steady. She leaned in to sweep the first couple of brush strokes across her cheek and jaw and she felt Robin shiver.

 

“Sorry,” Robin murmured without moving her mouth a lot. “Tickled.”

 

Robin was a much better canvas than most of the other people who’d sat in her chair that day. She held still and quiet and watched Alice with those intense green eyes. Alice could feel her pulse pounding in her wrists and she felt light-headed each time she was close enough that she could feel the warm puffs of air against her cheek when Robin exhaled.

 

Alice painted a rainbow tree, the roots snaking across the bottom of her jaw and the top of her neck, the branches extended across her cheek and forehead. Alice added whorls and knots into the bark of the trunk with her smallest brush, and if one of them was shaped like a heart…well, at least it wouldn’t be obvious. Ruby was also quiet while this was being done. She watched with rapt interest, as did a small group of onlookers.

 

She was surprised at how good it came out as she finished up considering she’d spent the whole time painting it with a buzzing in her ears at her proximity to Robin. It was difficult to concentrate when every time she leaned in with her brush she wanted to put her lips against Robin’s skin instead of the paint. When she was done she handed Robin the mirror almost nervously.

 

Robin’s mouth opened in a small “o” as she looked in the mirror and when she glanced back up at Alice there was something in her eyes that sparkled. Her smile was half giddiness and half awe.

 

“That’s dope as hell,” Ruby said quietly.

 

Alice snorted with laughter and whatever quiet spell she’d constructed in the area was broken. A couple of people clapped and Alice grinned bashfully at them. She told them she was taking a lunch break and a few of them awwww’d but promised to come back in a half hour for their face painting.

 

Robin stood up when she did and handed the mirror back to her. “This is amazing,” she said. She grabbed some money out of her pocket and, like Ruby, shoved it in the lockbox before Alice could see how much it was, which made her suspect it was too much.

 

“I’m glad you like it,” Alice said with a little shrug.

 

“Like it? I love it! I almost don’t want to wash my face ever again.”

 

“You should get it tattooed,” Ruby suggested. “Face tattoo is a good look for you. Covers up the imperfections.”

 

“Apparently I don’t have any imperfections,” Robin shot back smugly. She looked at Alice, eyes curious. “Who does your face paint?” she asked.

 

“No one.”

 

Robin gasped. “But it’s pride!”

 

“Are you saying you don’t like Alice’s beautiful face just the way it is?” Ruby asked.

 

“No! Of course not,” Robin stuttered. “I just mean it’s pride! Everyone should get face paint.”

 

“Didn’t deny the beautiful thing.”  

 

Robin glared at her and motioned to Alice’s brushes with her hand. “May I?” Alice, who had nearly swallowed her tongue sometime around the beautiful comment and still hadn’t quite recovered, just nodded. Robin’s face lit up.

 

It was even worse on the other end, she decided. Robin moved in close, fingertips brushing against her jawline. She rested the edge of her hand against Alice’s cheek to steady her brush and little sparks of electricity radiated from every point their skin brushed. She was surprised her breathing didn’t come out erratic and stuttered. It was also horrendously cute the way that Robin caught the tip of her tongue between her teeth when she concentrated. Thankfully whatever Robin was painting didn’t take very long.

 

“Glitter?” Robin asked.

 

“What did you paint?”

 

“Something thematically appropriate,” Robin said with a cheeky grin.

 

“Glitter appropriate?”

 

“It’s pride, everything is glitter appropriate.” She picked up the tube of glitter and tapped it gently against Alice’s cheek. Alice blew a bit of hair out of her face and laughed when a puff of glitter went with it.

 

Ruby snickered. “No wonder she’s running this booth and not you,” she said.

 

“Hey!” Robin pouted and handed Alice the mirror. It wasn’t bad: a rainbow going into a red and pink heart. A few of the brushstrokes were shaky but otherwise it was just fine.

 

Alice smiled at Robin so widely she could feel the paint tug on her cheek. Before she could thank her for the art she let out a little squeak as something heavy and moving at a high speed hit her legs. When she looked down it was to see one of the kids from earlier had wrapped his arms tightly around her middle.

 

“Hi, Miss Alice!” he said in his high, squeaky voice. His face was still covered with the skull makeup Alice had put on earlier, only slightly smudged from where he had obviously touched it. “This is the bestest face paint ever!”

 

Alice laughed and ruffled his hair. “You’re right, it is! You’re welcome, buddy. Did you need something?”

 

“I have a question,” he said. He let go of her and tugged on her arm until she squatted down to his level. He was very serious.

 

“Sure, what’s up?”

 

“Will you marry me, Miss Alice?”

 

Behind her she could hear Robin choke, seemingly on thin air, and the sounds of Ruby stifling her laughter. She wasn’t doing a very good job.

 

“Sorry kid,” Ruby said between giggles. “She’s mine.”

 

There were noises that sounded like Ruby and Robin were fighting and then Robin said, “Lucas, make peace with you not living through the day.”

 

The little boy was still looking at her with hopeful eyes, so she just smiled at him. “Maybe when you’re older?” she offered. His mom was standing nearby and giggling. Alice winked at her.

 

“Ok!” he said brightly. “Promise?”

 

“Promise.” She held up her hand and he linked their pinkies together.

 

Seemingly satisfied with this answer, he gave her another quick hug and skipped back over to his mother. Robin was grinning goofily at her when she stood up.

 

“That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said.

 

Alice rolled her eyes, but she was grinning too. “Yeah, kids are great.”

 

“Most kids are great,” Ruby corrected. “Some of them can be – ”

 

She stopped mid-sentence. They waited for her to continue and when she didn’t they both looked over at her. Ruby was frozen in place, jaw hanging open slightly, and with color rising high in her cheeks.

 

“Ruby?” Robin asked. “You good?”

 

When they didn’t get an answer Robin looked at Alice for a moment, who shrugged, and waved her hand in front of Ruby’s face. “Yo! Lucas! You having a heat stroke?”

 

Ruby shoved her hand away. “I’m fine!” she growled.

 

Alice followed her eyeline and was delighted to see Ruby was staring at someone. She was looking across the way at a booth selling colorful bracelets where a young woman was standing there looking through them. She had a pretty, heart-shaped face with softly curling brown hair, dressed in blue-grey ankle boots and a bright yellow dress with a pink scarf.

 

She poked Robin in the side and pointed when she looked over at her. The smirk Robin got when she realized what was happening was more than a little wicked.

 

“See something you like, Ruby?” Robin taunted.

 

Alice winked at Robin and raised her voice to be heard across the crowd of people. “Hey, Belle!” she called. The young woman looked up and noticed Alice waving her arm over her head to flag her down.

 

“Alice, what are you doing?” Ruby asked in a panic. “Alice!”

 

“Hi, Alice!” Belle said as she got closer. “Nice face paint!”

 

“Thanks, Robin did it.” She waved her arm to her friends. “Belle, I want you to meet my friends. This is Robin, and the brunette is Ruby. Guys, this is Belle. She goes to Antioch with me.”

 

“Hi!” Belle smiled brightly at them, her signature cheerful grin. “I like your face paint too. Are you firefighters?”

 

Alice actually watched Ruby’s heart melt into her stomach when she heard Belle’s accent. She could see Robin biting the inside of her cheek to keep her laughter in check. Ruby twitched when Robin elbowed her in the ribs.

 

“Yes!” she said loudly, and then cleared her throat and repeated, “Yes. We’re firefighters. Working the crowd today. You – ummm – you go to school? With Alice?”

 

“I do. I’m getting my masters in library science.”

 

“That’s cool. That sounds smart.”

 

Alice could see Robin’s shoulders starting to shake and if she was being honest she wasn’t faring much better. At least Belle seemed to find this endearing, since she was looking at Ruby the way Alice saw her looking at new books. Alice shuffled over to Robin and crooked her finger, so Robin would lean down enough for her to whisper, “How long are we going to let her go on like this?”

 

“At least another ten minutes,” Robin whispered back.

 

Sharp, witty Ruby turning into an absolute mess when a pretty girl talked to her was the funniest thing Alice had seen in  _ weeks _ . Neither of them noticed that she and Robin had essentially removed themselves from the conversation. Alice hooked her arm through Robin’s elbow and tugged her closer.

 

“We’re really just going to let her embarrass herself like this, huh?” she asked low enough for the other two not to hear.

 

Robin snorted. “You have no idea what Ruby has been putting me through lately. This is karmic justice.” She looked at Alice and tilted her head. “Here you’ve got – ” She motioned with her free hand but when Alice just looked at her with confusion she reached up and tugged a stray bit of hair that had stuck itself to the wet paint on Alice’s cheek and tucked it behind her ear.

 

“Oh, thanks.” Alice blushed and let go of her arm.  

 

Ruby was still floundering and Alice poked Robin in the shoulder and tilted her chin towards their friend significantly. Robin sighed but took the hint.

 

“You know, Ruby was just saying that we’re running a booth over in B section,” Robin said. “You should stop by if you can.”

 

Belle turned her head to look at Robin and when she did Ruby shot them what could only be classified as a look of pure murderous intent.

 

“I will!” Belle said. “I’ve got some people I’m meeting up with right now, though. It was nice meeting you Ruby.”

 

“You too,” Ruby said. Alice had to bite her lip to stop from laughing the way her voice cracked a little when Belle touched her arm in farewell.

 

“Was it not nice meeting me?” Robin said when Belle was out of earshot. “I’m nice.”

 

“I’m going to fucking murder you,” Ruby said.

 

“Are you, though?”

 

“You should ask her out!” Alice said cheerfully, to forestall the violence building.

 

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like I’m gonna take relationship advice from dense and denser,” she said.

 

“Hmmm,” Alice tapped her finger to her lips thoughtfully, eyes twinkling. “You know what? I think I’m going to give her your number just in case.”

 

“You wouldn’t,” Ruby said threateningly.

 

“No, I think I should.” She pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

 

Ruby lunged for her. “Alice Jones, don’t you dare.”

 

Alice danced away, darting behind the face paint table and holding her phone teasingly above her head. “Don’t worry about it,” she said as she hurriedly scrolled through her contacts. “It’s not a problem at all.”

 

“Alice!”

 

Robin grabbed the back of Ruby’s shirt and they started to good-naturedly scuffle. Alice tuned them out to focus on finding Belle. Distantly she heard Ruby say something, but it didn’t quite process in her brain.

 

“Robin, control your girlfriend!”  

 

Alice laughed when her phone buzzed in her hand before she found Belle’s contact name.

 

[Belle] Number one, why didn’t you tell me you had a friend who looked like ruby and number two, do you have her number?

 

In three taps of her thumb she’d hurriedly shared Ruby’s contact information and then pocketed her phone again before Ruby could grab it from her. She smirked triumphantly and looked up. Robin was wide-eyed and glaring at Ruby.

 

Ruby huffed and stalked away towards Tiana’s booth, already complaining loudly to Mulan about how she’d been ganged up on. Alice had a fit of giggles that Robin joined in on after a moment.  

 

“That was so, so satisfying,” Robin said.

 

“Fuck you, Robin,” they heard distantly.

 

“Anyway, we should probably get back,” Robin said. “Naveen’s shift at the booth is almost up, and I don’t think anyone is actually at the truck since these delinquents have also abandoned their posts.”

 

Alice hoped her disappointment didn’t show too much. “Okay,” she said. “Don’t let Ruby murder you.”

 

“She can try,” Robin laughed. “She hasn’t succeeded yet.” She shuffled her feet from side to side in what almost looked like shyness. “Thanks for the face paint.”

 

Alice smiled at her. “Thanks for mine.”

 

“You should come to the booth later,” Robin said suddenly. She went bright red when Alice stared at her. “To say hi!” she hurried on. “Not for – ” she coughed, “ – not for other reasons.” 

 

Mulan interrupted them before Alice could do anything besides start to hyperventilate a little. “C’mon, we’ve got another dehydration case a couple blocks over.” She handed Robin the medical bag.

 

Robin sighed but slung it over her shoulder. “See you later, Alice?” she asked hopefully.

 

“Of course.” Alice managed to squeak out. Her mind was churning too hard with the thought of going to the fire department’s booth.

 

She’d asked as a friend. She’d said she wanted Alice to come to say hi to everybody. That made sense. Phillip had joked yesterday that they’d adopted Alice like a stray kitten but that wasn’t entirely not true. She was very fond of them and they were very fond of her, so it made sense that Robin thought she should drop in and say hi. Just because she was going to the kissing booth didn’t mean she’d actually have to pay to kiss someone. And even if she did, because the money was going to charity, it’s not like she would be going there during the specific time that Robin was manning the booth.

 

She hadn’t realized she’d begun pacing until she almost tripped over her own feet at that thought. She’d said Naveen’s shift was almost over, which meant they were taking shifts, which meant at some point it would be Robin’s shift at the kissing booth. The thought of people kissing her put a knot in her stomach she didn’t want to deal with.

 

Her pacing stopped only when Tiana blocked her in one direction and Aurora blocked her in the other.

 

“You doing all right over here?” Tiana asked. “I can practically see smoke coming out of your ears.”

 

“I’m fine,” Alice said in a voice that didn’t sound fine at all. “Just thinking.”

 

“Yeah we can see that.”

 

“What does it mean when someone invites you to a kissing booth?” Alice blurted out.

 

“Usually it means they want to kiss you,” Aurora deadpanned. She held up her hands when Alice glared at her. “Ok, sorry.”

 

“Robin asked me to stop by the fire department booth,” Alice sighed, shoulders drooping. “She said to come say hi to everybody. She specifically said not for anything else. So I’m just reading things into this.”

 

Tiana and Aurora shared a look over Alice’s shoulder. “Maybe not entirely,” Tiana said.

 

“Alice, have you thought about…maybe asking Robin what she feels?” Aurora suggested gently.

 

“Yes, and it terrifies me, thank you.”

 

Tiana sighed and rubbed Alice’s shoulder consolingly. “Ok,” she said. “Two of the other kids come by at three to take over the booth. When they do, Aurora and I are going with you to say hi to everybody. Does that make you feel a little better?”

 

“Not at all.”

 

Tiana pinched her. “You’re impossible.”

 

* * *

 

Before she’d even finished walking into the space where the fire department had their booth she was nearly bulldozed over in a hug so tight that she lost feeling in her arms for a moment.

 

“Ruby!” she wheezed.

 

“I  _ love  _ you, Alice Jones.” Ruby let go of her boa constrictor hug and rained kisses on top of Alice’s head instead. “You’re the best and I love you. Marry me.”

 

Alice shoved her gently away. “Are you drunk?”

 

“Drunk on love!” Ruby countered with a big grin.

 

“Someone named Belle texted her,” Naveen said, coming over to collect his own welcome hug. “And also stopped by during her shift at the booth and kissed her. She’s been like a child hopped up on candy ever since.”

 

“She’s had enough candy today that that’s probably not far from the truth,” Alice teased.

 

Ruby stuck her multi-colored tongue out at them, completely unrepentant.

 

The department had gone all out with their booth, strewing it with both department flags and every pride flag under the sun. Naveen told her they’d encouraged people to tell them if there were any flags they were missing, and then one of them would go on the hunt for it. A big sign on the front proclaimed it was a kissing booth for charity, with all proceeds going to support homeless LGBTQ youth. Alice’s heart constricted painfully in her chest, but not in a bad way.

 

The constriction got worse when she saw whose turn it was in the booth.

 

True to their word, Aurora and Tiana had come with her to say hi to the fire crew. They had disappeared nearly immediately the moment they got to the section that held their booth, however. Aurora was nowhere to be seen but Alice would bet a significant amount of money that if she found Mulan she would find her. Tiana had tugged Naveen away and was relentlessly flirting with him in a way that made him a flustered mess and would have been absolutely hysterical under any other circumstances.

 

A girl dressed all in the ace flag colors was putting money in the lockbox on the booth table and waving at Robin as she left when Alice showed up. Robin waved back and her hand stopped in mid-air when she noticed who had walked up next.

 

“Hi!” Robin said, and it could have been her imagination, but did she sound a little breathless? “Enjoying pride?”

 

“Not as much as you guys seem to be,” Alice said.   

 

“Yeah, Naveen’s said he’s never gotten more numbers in his entire life,” Robin said with a slightly shaky smile.

 

Alice tilted her head backwards towards where he was standing and talking with Tiana and smirked when she said, “I doubt he’ll be using them.”

 

“Is it just me or are you pairing off your friends with my friends?” Robin asked, raising her right eyebrow in a way that was much sexier than it should have been.

 

Alice gasped dramatically. “You’ve uncovered my dastardly plot. I want everyone I know to be happy. You’ve caught me out.”

 

Robin’s shaky smile got steadier. “How dare you.”

 

Alice stopped giggling when she stepped up to the front of the booth. Her hands were shaking too much so she tilted her chin at the sign instead. “I like the charity you guys picked.”

 

“Yeah!” Robin did a double-take at the sign and shrugged. “We had a whole list of them, but I liked this one best. Are you – are you gonna give?”

 

“Well, if it’s for homeless LGBTQ youth I have to. I used to be one.” She sheepishly dug into her pocket and pulled out a bill. She wasn’t even sure if it was the ten dollar requirement but she folded it up and put it in the lockbox on the table anyway. Robin was looking at her with that soft look again, the same one she’d had when she’d wrapped up Alice’s hand. Not sympathy, but respect, and something warm. Alice had to swallow twice around the lump in her throat and her heart felt like it was attempting to hammer through her ribs.

 

She saw Robin’s smile fade as Alice leaned forward, barely able to breathe as Robin leaned in, too. Her eyes darted to Robin’s lips and her mouth went dry at the thought that they were about to be on hers. Her heart pounded so loudly in her chest that she worried Robin might be able to hear it even over the noise of pride around them. She paused to gather her courage, just close enough that she could feel the few escaped curls from Robin’s braid brushing against her cheek. Alice closed her eyes and her nose grazed against Robin’s. She felt Robin readjust slightly to the side and then she felt sparks explode along her lips, sending tingles down to her toes as Robin’s mouth found hers. Their lips slotted together perfectly like they were made to fit one another’s. Robin’s were soft and the press of them was firm against her own, and all Alice wanted to do was deepen the kiss, but she wasn’t even sure she could remember to keep breathing as it was. Her palms itched to reach up and cup Robin’s face, but she gripped the hard wood of the booth in front of her instead.

 

It felt like eternity stretched out before her as she felt a slight movement of Robin’s lips against hers, and Alice had to remind herself to keep it chaste even as her lips parted slightly of their own accord.

 

A sharp squawk from the radio on Robin’s belt made them jump, and Alice felt the sudden absence of Robin’s touch like a punch to the gut.

 

Robin blinked at her, looking almost dazed, then shook her head and grabbed her radio. “Repeat, please?”

 

“We’ve got an intoxicated individual on Eastman and 4 th . Response requested.”

 

Robin sighed. “Got it. 10-4.” Her face was apologetic as she looked at Alice. “We gotta take this. Naveen? Let’s go, buddy.”

 

“Awwww,” Naveen pouted when he walked over. “Med bag?”

 

“Yeah, probably.”

 

Robin didn’t leave right away when Naveen walked off. She stopped next to Alice and looked at her for a long moment. She opened and closed her mouth like she was trying to say something, and then settled on, “Text you later?”

 

“Yeah,” Alice said, like her heart wasn’t dropping into her shoes. She wasn’t sure what to do with this soft type of rejection. It might have felt better if the band-aid had been ripped off instead.

 

Alice left Aurora and Tiana behind when she went back to her booth. She spent the rest of the day doing her face painting, smiling and laughing, and then when the parade started she packed up and went home.

 

Robin didn’t text her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is going to have to tide you over for a bit. This story is written in advance (as in I have more chapters than what is currently posted) but APL is written in real time and I’ve had a hellacious time at work and now I’m going to be at DragonCon for a week. Expect APL somtime in the middle of next week. Sorry and I love you!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An apology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the unintended hiatus!

“We’re at work. You can’t avoid us anymore.”

 

“I wasn’t avoiding you in the first place,” Alice said as she restocked the sugar. Silence greeted her. When she looked up Tiana, Aurora, and Ella were giving her nearly identical looks of disbelief. “I wasn’t!”

 

“You didn’t answer your phone for the rest of the weekend,” Ella countered.

 

“I was exhausted after pride. I spent all of Sunday asleep.”

 

Ella scoffed. “Sure, and I’m the queen of England.”

 

“I never knew Ella stood for Elizabeth.”

 

Ella threw a muffin at her and Tiana frowned. “Hey! You’re paying for that.”

 

“Let’s just backtrack everything,” Aurora said. Ever the peacemaker. “You kissed Robin at pride.”

 

“At a kissing booth,” Alice repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. “I put money in their collection box for charity and yes, I kissed Robin, because she was the one manning the booth at the time.”

 

“And how did that make you feel?” Aurora prompted.

 

Alice sucked in a breath until her cheeks puffed up and then let it all out. The napkins in front of her rattled. “Nice,” she said. “But it was nothing. We haven’t even talked since.”

 

“Have you tried to talk to her?”

 

“Yes.” Yesterday, when she hadn’t heard anything. Not even a hello back.

 

“Something could have happened,” Tiana offered. “You want me to text Naveen and ask?”

 

Alice whirled around. “No!” she said. Then, slyly, “Since when do you have Naveen’s number?”

  
“Since Saturday. Don’t avoid the question.”

  
“I didn’t avoid the question, I told you no.”

  
“I think you should just ask her out,” the customer at the counter offered. He flushed when all four of them looked at him. “What? You’ve been talking about it the whole time you’ve been making my order. I’m invested now.”

  
“All I’m saying is that I’ve helped run plenty of kissing booths in my time,” Ella said. “And I’ve almost exclusively gotten kisses on the cheek. Was yours on the lips?”

  
“Maybe.”

  
“Yes,” Aurora said. Alice glared at her.

  
“How long was it?”

  
Forever and no time at all. “Maybe thirty seconds?”

  
Ella scoffed again. “She likes you. Kissing booth kisses are two to five seconds, tops.”

  
“I agree,” one of the regulars sitting against the wall said. She was an older woman with curly grey hair who shrugged when Alice looked incredulously at her.  

  
“Will you guys stop ganging up on me?” Alice asked.

  
“We’re not ganging up. We’re giving our valued opinions.” Ella smirked at her.

  
“I’m gonna quit,” Alice sighed.

  
“Doubtful.”

  
Ella’s phone went off to signal the end of her shift and she glanced at it, making a hand motion where she flicked her finger between her eyes and Alice. “This conversation isn’t over just because I have to go meet Henry about the cake,” she said. She handed her apron off to Tiana and left, but not without one final point at Alice.

  
“Nice backing me up, guys,” Alice growled at Tiana and Aurora. They both held up their hands innocently.

  
“I told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” Aurora said. “You can’t jail me, your honor.”

  
Alice rolled her eyes at her. “So…” she drawled. “How’s Mulan?”

  
Aurora blushed but smiled, a sweet little grin that made Alice happy for her. “She’s good. We’re going out to dinner this weekend.”

  
“Does everyone in this café have a date with a firefighter this weekend?” Tiana asked.

  
“I don’t,” Alice said.

  
“Only because you haven’t asked yet,” Aurora told her. The bell above the door dinged and Aurora dropped her smug smirk to turn and greet the customer with a bright, cheerful smile. “Hello, welcome to Tiana’s – oh, hey.”

  
“Hey Aurora,” Robin said.

_   
_ _ BANG _ . Alice cursed as her knee jerked automatically into the side of the counter. Everyone in the café looked at her she and waved them off with a blush.

  
Robin gave her a sheepish wave when she saw her. Alice wanted to stay mad. She really did. But it was another one of Robin’s days off, obviously. She was wearing tight jeans and a green t-shirt. Her slightly nervous smile was highlighted by the way her hair fell in soft waves around her face and the wire-rimmed glasses she wore made her eyes pop even more than the green top.

  
Alice wished she was less easily swayed by pretty girls.

  
“Robin!” Tiana said in a way too cheerful voice. “You know, we were just talking about you!”

  
“You were?”

  
Alice tried to tell herself the way Robin’s lips pouted when she frowned wasn’t cute. She tried really, really hard. She didn’t succeed.

  
“Yeah. How did pride go for you? You got called to help handle a drunk guy, right?”

  
“Great,” Robin deadpanned. “The drunk guy was awesome and definitely didn’t try to fight us or smash my phone into three pieces.”

  
Aurora winced, and Alice practically felt her ears perk up. It was ridiculous that she let the lack of communication from Robin affect her this way. A month ago they didn’t even know each other and today the disappointment of the lack of a good morning text was palpable.

  
“Anyway,” Robin continued, and when she tried to catch Alice’s eyes this time she let her. Her nervous smile grew. “I came to invite you guys to movie night this Thursday.”

  
“What do you have in your hands?” Aurora asked. She peered curiously over the counter. “I sense presents. I love being bribed by presents.”

  
Robin laughed and dug around in the messenger back over her shoulder. She handed two small, glittering metal bits over the counter to Aurora and Tiana. “They’re bribes,” she agreed easily. “We had some leftover firefighter pride pins.”

  
Alice walked around the counter and Robin shifted to keep her hand behind her back.

  
“We only had two left,” Robin said. “So…Well I had – I wanted to call but then my phone got broken and do you know how hard it is to replace your phone on a Sunday? So I’ve been doing that all day. And…um…I – it’s only been a few days but I haven’t seen you and we had the – and there was the…anyway, I’m sorry and I kinda missed you? I mean we all missed you around the firehouse. And movie night is on Thursday again.”

  
“You said that,” Aurora said helpfully.

  
“Thanks, I did. Anyway, these are for you.” She pulled her hand out from behind her back and shoved a small bundle of flowers at Alice.

  
Alice completely melted. Robin nearly let go of the flowers before she had a chance to fully grab them. They looked like roses, but they were a soft lavender color that she hadn’t ever seen before. She brought them up to smell, inhaling the soft pretty fragrance.  

  
“Thank you,” she said quietly.

  
“Those are so  _ pretty _ ,” Aurora enthused.

  
Robin shrugged. “I saw them in the window of a shop on my way here and I thought – I mean I didn’t want to show up without a present for everybody and you’re – ”

  
“Here, I’ll put them in water,” Tiana offered. She held her hand out and Alice almost didn’t want to hand them over, resisting the urge to cradle them protectively to her chest. When Alice did give them to her Tiana put her hand on Alice’s shoulder and gently shoved her towards Robin. “Take your break. Go  _ talk _ with your  _ friend _ .”

  
Alice glared briefly at Tiana – was the emphasis necessary - and led Robin over to one of the open tables in the corner. She sat down with a little groan. She was better being on her feet all day but she still had no idea how Tiana and Ella did it so often.

  
“You guys want muffins and coffee? Alice? Hot chocolate?” Aurora offered.

  
“Not the one that just fell on the floor,” Alice said.

  
“You’ll eat the floor dirt muffin and you’ll like it.” Aurora laughed when Alice stuck her tongue out at her.

  
“You like hot chocolate in the summer?” Robin asked at the same time Alice said, “You look nice.”

  
They both blushed and Robin cleared her throat. “Thanks.”

  
“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

  
“I don’t, normally. I like my contacts a lot more, but my last pair expired so I had to wear them.”

  
“You should wear them more often.”

  
They shared a brief, awkward pause interrupted by Aurora coming over and placing a plate and two cups down on the table. “Your food, my ladies.”

  
“You’re weird, I don’t know why Mulan likes you,” Robin said. Aurora lightly smacked her shoulder as she walked away. Robin’s wince and hiss of pain didn’t look exaggerated, however.

  
“Hey,” Alice leaned forward. “Are you ok?”

  
“Fine,” Robin said quickly. “Just a little stuff left over from the drunk guy on Saturday.” She didn’t move away when Alice scooted closer or stop her from rolling up her sleeve to look at her shoulder. There was a significant bruise on the ball of her shoulder and Alice hissed in sympathy. She ran her fingertips lightly over the discoloration and she felt Robin shiver slightly.

  
“What happened?” Alice asked. She pulled her hand back and sat down in her chair again, fingertips tingling.

  
“So that drunk guy? Turns out it wasn’t alcohol poisoning, which is what they thought and why they called us. He was just very comfortable and didn’t want to respond to people trying to wake him up. Then we showed up and he got very responsive.”

  
Alice winced. “This is the same guy that broke your phone?”

  
“Yeah,” Robin said ruefully. “In his defense that wasn’t really his fault. He was waving his arms around a lot and I stepped backwards to not get hit and fell.”

  
“My weekend was not nearly as interesting,” Alice said dryly. “I cleaned my apartment and slept.”

  
“Next time invite me.” Robin said. “To your quiet weekend! Not to…sleep at your apartment.” She ducked her head to take a sip of her coffee and gasped. “Ow. Too hot.”

  
The gasp was enough for Alice’s brain, though. It screeched to a halt as it reminded her of the dream she’d had on Saturday night in very vivid detail. She’d remembered every bit of it the next morning – not unusual for dreams she’d had – but had shoved it to the side to think about later. Her brain deciding now was a good ‘later’ was…inconvenient. Actually, inconvenient was an understatement.

  
The dream had been all sensations at first. The solid feeling of a body under hers, the tingling sensation of warm hands trailing across smooth skin, the sound of someone else breathing. It had taken her brain a second to catch up with the idea of Robin underneath her. Robin, green eyes so dark as to be nearly black, every inch of glorious body on display. Robin, gasping as Alice tasted the salt of her skin, running her tongue in a line up her stomach. Gasping again when Alice rolled a nipple between her fingers. The groan she let out when Alice surged up to kiss her, teeth nipping at that full bottom lip and pulling it slightly, tongue swiping out to soothe the spot a second later. Robin, voice high and breathless as she gasped out her name.

  
“Alice?”

  
Alice shook her head like she was trying to clear water out of her ears.

  
“You all right?” Robin asked, peering at her closely, forehead bunched in concern. “You got kind of distant for a moment.”

  
“Didn’t get much sleep last night,” Alice croaked out. She cleared her throat. “I’ve been spacing out all day. Sorry.” She could barely meet her eyes, now that her brain was running that dream on a repeating loop in her mind. 

  
“It’s fine. I space out a lot too,” Robin smiled at her and blew on her coffee to cool it. Alice tried not to pay attention to the way her lips drew together.

  
“You’re a firefighter,” Alice reminded her with a smirk.

  
“I don’t space out during  _ fires _ .” She eyed the chocolate croissant Alice had just picked up pitifully and Alice smiled. She broke it in half and held out part of it to Robin.

  
“Here, stop looking so pathetic,” she said.

  
Robin grabbed it from her with a smug grin. Their fingers brushed when she did, and Alice pulled hers back. Her mind unhelpfully supplied the sensation of fingertips running up the inside of her thighs. She blinked hard.

  
“Have you noticed it’s been more than a week since you guys have had to come to my apartment for something?” Alice asked, trying to wipe her mind.

  
“I did notice that, yes. Is it weird that I kind of miss it?”

  
Alice rolled her eyes. “You know,” she said. “You never told me why you and Naveen were the ones to show up so often at first.”

  
“Oh, that,” Robin blinked like the thought hadn’t occurred to her before. “Well, you know that you have a bit of a reputation at the firehouse for setting off your alarm during exam time.” She paused to let Alice groan at the reminder. “Naveen and I are the new kids on the block, and as the newbies we get saddled with all the boring or tedious stuff.”

  
Alice felt a pang of hurt at that that she tried to push down. “Which am I?” she asked.

  
“Neither!” Robin said immediately. She leaned across the table to put her hand over Alice’s. “Promise! You’re great. I just meant we knew it wasn’t serious.”

  
“Oh, it’s pretty serious,” Alice joked. “I’m seriously bad at not setting off the fire alarm.”

  
“But you’re a great cook,” Robin joked back. Her voice was low and teasing, and Alice’s brain reminded her of low words of encouragement and pleas in her ears. Her hand jumped underneath Robin’s and Robin let go and wrapped her hands around her coffee instead. Alice’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her apron pocket to glance at it, grateful for the distraction.

  
[Henry] are you on a coffee date with Robin right now?

  
Alice rolled her eyes and ignored it. “Sorry,” she said. “Best friend just being annoying.” It went off again before she could put it back in her pocket, buzzing several times in a row.

  
[Henry] tiana texted ella who texted me

  
[Henry] you’re 100% on a coffee date with firefighter girl and you’re IGNORING me for it

  
“Sorry,” she said again. “Let me just tell him to bugger off.”

  
Robin snickered. “Go for it,” she said.

  
Alice hurried typed [shut up it’s not a date tell ella to tell tiana she’s dead to me]. Then she quickly glared at her boss for good measure. Tiana just smirked and gave her a thumbs up.

  
“What was the laugh for?” Alice asked.

  
“Hmmm?”

  
“You laughed, when I said I was going to tell him to bugger off.”

  
“Oh,” Robin laughed again. “It’s just funny. My mom has a British accent so you think I’d be used to it by now, but I’m not.”

  
“Are you mocking our obviously superior accent?”

  
“Mocking?” Robin’s smile turned crooked. “Me? Never.”

Alice bit her lip, debating the words that were on the tip of her tongue. “Your accent is cute, too.”

 

Robin’s eyes went wide even as a frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I have an accent?”

 

“To me you do,” Alice pointed out, ignoring the blush creeping up her cheeks in favor of offering Robin a small smile. 

 

“And it’s cute?” Robin asked. 

 

Nope, there was no more ignoring the blush. It was going to take over, soon, and instead of Alice it was just going to be blush sitting across the table from Robin. She managed a small shrug as nonchalantly as she could and wished fervently that Tiana would come over and tell her that her break was done. She glanced at her, only to catch Aurora and Tiana both suddenly appear incredibly interested at the receipts sitting on the counter in front of them. 

 

Alice narrowed her eyes at them. “You know, I should probably -”

 

“You’re good! You’ve got at least ten more minutes!” Tiana called. 

 

She was really going to have to talk to them about the impoliteness of eavesdropping. She felt her blush creeping up her ears now. 

 

“Alice?” Robin asked. 

 

Of course her brain would choose that moment to remember the way that Robin had moaned her name in her dream the night before. She wondered briefly if there was steam coming off of her head now. 

 

“Yeah?” she squeaked. 

 

“Are you okay?” Robin looked concerned. “You look flushed, suddenly.” She leaned across the table and felt Alice’s forehead. 

 

Alice swallowed hard, and attempted a nod, but then Robin’s fingers were cupping her cheek, and all she could think about was how that was exactly what she’d wanted to happen during their kiss.

 

Their completely platonic, for charity kiss, she reminded herself. “I’m fine.”

 

“You sure? If you’re coming down with something you probably shouldn’t be serving people food,” Robin pointed out, that little crooked smile that never failed to make Alice feel weak at the knees playing across her face. “I could take you home.”

 

Why did that have to sound so very suggestive to her brain when Robin so obviously meant it in a completely innocent, friendly caring way?

 

“No. Honest, I just...is it hot in here?”

 

“Actually, yeah, a little,” Robin agreed, pulling her hand back. 

 

Alice’s cheek felt cold at the lack of contact and she had to fight the urge to reach across the table and pull her hand back towards her. 

 

Silence lingered between them and Alice scoured her brain for something witty to say that could potentially ease the awkwardness. 

 

“How’s everyone at the station?” she asked. 

 

“Good. Ruby’s still a pain, but there’s nothing to be done about that,” Robin joked and Alice laughed. “Actually, she and your friend Belle have been texting a lot. Ruby’s got it baaaaad.”

 

“Oh, yeah? I’ll have to text her and find out how it’s going from her end. She definitely thought Ruby was gorgeous,” Alice informed her, happy to focus the conversation on other people. She could feel her blush calming already. 

 

Robin held her hand to her chest and pretended to look offended. “What? Ruby and not me? Clearly she needs glasses.”

 

“Clearly,” Alice agreed without thinking...and then thinking happened and the blush came back with a vengeance. “I mean anyone with eyes would say that you’re hotter than Ruby.” She attempted to say it like she was just going along with the joke, but now there was a tinge of color on Robin’s cheeks, too, and it probably didn’t help that she very sincerely meant every word that had just come out of her mouth. She’d probably just embarrassed her. 

 

Alice forced a laugh and Robin echoed it and looked back at her drink. She took several long sips, then looked shyly back at Alice. 

“I don’t want to keep you. I know you’re supposed to be working. I just wanted to give you the flowers and say sorry for not being in touch.” 

 

Alice couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed, but she nodded and smiled. “Thank you, again. They’re really beautiful.” Alice glanced to the counter where Tiana had placed the roses front and center in a vase. 

 

Robin shrugged. “Just didn’t want to come empty handed,” she mumbled, looking shy. 

 

They stood at the same time, Alice’s chair pushing back and making a loud grating sound against the floor as they did so. She felt like all of the eyes in the café turned to them, but it was probably just her imagination. She walked Robin to the door and thanked her again. She swallowed down the lump in her throat when Robin gave her a little wave and that smile that showed off her dimples and headed out. 

 

As she turned back towards the counter and noticed the older woman who had piped up earlier during their conversation about the kissing booth paying. She nodded politely as she moved back behind the counter, and the woman leaned in towards her. “My husband was a florist for many years,” she said, eyes bright. “I learned the meaning of any flowers. Do you know what lavender roses mean?”

 

Alice shook her head. 

 

The woman nodded kindly. “They mean love at first sight, dear. You get that girl.”

 

With that the woman turned and hobbled off. 

 

Alice turned wide surprised eyes on the roses. Surely that was just a coincidence. Who knew what every color of rose meant, after all. It wasn’t like  _ Robin _ was a florist. 

 

“Love at first sight, huh?” Tiana said in an annoyingly smug way. 

 

Alice turned a glare on her. “You are not texting Ella about this!”

 

Tiana grinned. “Oh, I so am.”

 

“She probably didn’t even know that!” Alice argued. 

 

“You trying to convince us or you?” Aurora asked gently. 

 

Alice crossed her arms and pouted. “I hate working here.”

 

“You love us,” Aurora argued, putting a comforting hand on her back. 

 

“Just not as much as you love her,” Tiana added with a grin. 

 

Alice just sighed. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice has another mishap in the kitchen. At least this one doesn’t involve fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry, I know this is late again. I promise I haven’t abandoned this or APL, work/life balance has just been hellacious lately.

The building had a maintenance man to help when things went wrong in the apartments. In theory. In reality, Alice had never actually encountered him during the dozens of times things had gone wrong in her apartment since she moved in nearly three years ago. She would email the building manager whenever something went wrong, he would email back to say he’d send his man over to look, and then eventually several weeks later Alice would fix it herself.    
  


That’s why that Wednesday found her underneath her sink after her shift at Tiana’s. She’d spent the last hour watching YouTube videos explaining how to fix the pipe. Her phone dimly illuminated the dark space under her sink. Alice bit her lip and peered at it, looking skeptically between the small screen and her pipe. The video had seemed simple enough at the time but actually looking at the problem put it in a whole new perspective.    
  


So far she’d dropped her phone four times and had to change her shirt twice after water soaked the front. She wasn’t having what you would call the best of luck.    
  


“What are you looking at now?” Henry’s voice sounded tiny from her laptop up on top of the counter.    
  


“Water,” Alice quipped.    
  


“Ok, but besides the water?”    
  


“The thing the water comes out of.”    
  


It was difficult to tell with the distortion of sound but she was pretty sure she heard Henry sigh at her.    
  


“If you want to be so helpful why don’t you come here and help me fix it?” Alice snapped at him.    
  


“I’m at work,” he defended. “And I also don’t know what I’m doing. I’m reading an article and advice from Mom simultaneously for you.”    
  


“Your multi-tasking is appreciated,” she told him. She crawled out from what she was beginning to believe was actually a portal to another dimension and Henry ducked out of frame to hide his snorts of laughter. Alice ran her hands through her damp hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. “Are you laughing at me?”    
  


“You can’t prove that,” Henry argued, still out of frame.    
  


Alice sighed. “I’m hanging up on you.”    
  


“No, don’t, I’m trying to be helpful!”    
  


“WikiHow is being more helpful.” Alice stuck her tongue out at him as he peeked his head back in front of the camera. “Goodbye Henry.”    
  


“Hey!”    
  


Alice giggled to herself as she ended the Skype call but her laughter petered off as she studied her current predicament. Her pipe leaked and rattled whenever she turned on her kitchen sink – which was fairly often, as she didn’t have a dishwasher and also didn’t enjoy eating off used dishes. Several towels, a box of borrowed tools, and some now-soggy printouts covered her kitchen floor. Her pipe, nearly an hour after she’d started, was no closer to being fixed. It might actually be more broken.    
  


“Ok, Alice,” she said, now to herself since she’d hung up on Henry. She rubbed her palms against her jeans and crawled back under the sink. “I can do this,” she told the pipe. The pipe didn’t look convinced. She was feeling around her side for the wrench that she’d dropped somewhere when a high-pitched screeching noise filled the apartment.    
  


Alice jumped and flinched violently at the sudden noise. There was an explosion of pain along the top of her head as it connected hard with the pipe she’d been hovering under, and another smaller one along her shin when it smacked into side of the counter. She leveraged herself out again, wincing and swearing and already feeling a headache forming. From the noise or hitting her head, she wasn’t sure.    
  


For once it wasn’t her fire alarm. It was  _ a  _ fire alarm, the building alarm itself, and Alice quickly grabbed her keys and went out into the stairwell. The sound was much worse out on the stairs, compounded by being crowded by the rest of the building’s occupants as they also left their homes to evacuate the building. This had only happened once or twice in the whole time she’d lived there – where something had gone wrong enough that the entire building alarm went off. She was weirdly relieved it wasn’t her that caused it.    
  


She doubted they’d be able to get it if they were actively responding to the call, but she opened her phone and texted [wasn’t me this time] to the group chat Naveen had invited her to named “fire family”. She got back an [lol] from August but that was it.    
  


She stepped out into the daylight with the rest of the crowd and squinted. Despite being the usual Seattle overcast, the world was suddenly too painful and bright for her. She bright a hand up to shield her eyes.

 

“Alice, are you all right?” 

 

Alice dropped her hand and blinked foggily at her neighbor from a few apartments down. She was an older woman with straight blonde hair and sharp, high cheekbones. Alice vaguely remembered she ran an ice cream shop, or something similar. Her name was something pretty and the old type of Nordic. Astrid? Sigrun? Oh, right.    
  


“I’m okay, Ingrid,” Alice gave her a small smile, the sentiment slightly undermined by the way she was hobbling from the pain in her shin as she walked to sit over on the lip of the raised flower bed outside the apartment building.    
  


Ingrid pursed her lips and frowned as she looked Alice over. “You don’t look okay,” she said. Her eyes darted to Alice’s forehead and her frown deepened. “You’re bleeding!”    
  


Alice put a hand to her head. She’d assumed her hair was damp because of the water she’d been sprayed with but now, pulling her fingers away, she could see them red with blood.    
  


“I’m okay,” she insisted again, even as she searched around for something to put against her head. Ingrid handed her a monogrammed handkerchief and Alice stared at it for a moment. “This’ll get ruined,” she said, trying to hand it back.    
  


Ingrid pushed it back at her. “I insist,” she said. “I don’t care about it anyway.”    
  
Alice only relented when it looked like Ingrid was going to physically make her put the handkerchief on her head. She pressed it against the sorest spot, wincing at the sharp pain that followed the pressure.    
  


The crowd of building inhabitants was thick enough that she couldn’t quite see anything besides the very top of the fire truck when it pulled in. She could see shifts in the crowd and the back of their jackets as her friends went into the building, but she quickly told herself she wasn’t their highest priority at the moment. 

 

“What happened?” she asked. 

 

Ingrid sighed. “Some kid left a candle lit near his bed and the curtains caught on fire,” she said. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, “I think he was trying to impress a girl.” 

 

Alice laughed and then winced and hissed at the pain the motion caused. Ingrid frowned at her again. 

 

“What happened to you?” she asked. 

 

Alice shrugged very carefully to avoid a repeat of the head pain. “I was trying to fix my sink and the alarm startled me.” 

 

“It does that,” Ingrid said dryly. “Do you want me to help you get it checked out?” 

 

“No!” Alice said loudly. And then again, softer, “No, but thank you. It’ll stop bleeding on its own.” 

 

Ingrid looked less than convinced. As the crowd realized that no one was coming out any time soon it started to thin. People left to go entertain themselves until the all clear was given. Only people who were obviously not dressed for going out or people who wanted to go back inside as soon as they could stuck around. As the crowd cleared Alice could see the truck and the person left behind. Ruby had her feet up on the steering wheel and even from a distance Alice could practically see – in the slouch of her shoulders and the loll of her head – how bored getting the short straw to stay behind in the truck had made her.

They locked eyes and Alice waved with the hand not currently pressed against her head. Ingrid followed her eyeline and waved as well. “You know her?” she asked.

Alice would have blushed if she didn’t feel so pale. “I’ve had a few of my own fire alarm mishaps lately. I’ve gotten very close with the fire station down the road.”

Ingrid chuckled. Alice narrowed her eyes as she saw Ruby speak into her radio, pause, and speak again. She was suspicious. Very suspicious. 

 

“What?” Ingrid asked.

 

“Nothing. Ruby’s just a troublemaker and I’m not positive she’s not living up to that description right now.” Alice squeezed her eyes shut as her head gave another throb.

 

Ingrid made a clicking noise with her tongue and put her hand on Alice’s shoulder. “I don’t like the way you look,” Ingrid said, in the kind of maternal tone that reminded Alice she had nieces Alice’s age. “Can I take you to the hospital?”

 

“I don’t like hospitals,” Alice mumbled.

 

“At least let me get one of your firefighter friends,” Ingrid said. 

 

“I’m fine,” Alice insisted, although she was starting to feel anything but. Her stomach roiled with nausea and her head was pounding like someone was slamming their fists into her temples. But even the thought of someone from the squad fussing over her instead of doing their job embarrassed her. She was fine. She wasn’t going to be a nuisance just because she bumped her head. 

 

Ingrid sat down next to her. Her hand felt cool when she put it against Alice’s cheek. “How hard do you hit yourself?” 

 

Hard, Alice thought but didn’t admit out loud. “I’ll be better in a couple minutes.”

 

Ingrid sighed. “Oh,” she said, surprise coloring her voice. “Looks like I don’t have to get one of your firefighter friends after all. There’s one coming over right now.”

 

“Which one?” Alice asked without opening her eyes. 

 

“Um, very pretty, dark blonde hair, looks like someone my niece would want to date?”

 

Alice’s brain supplied  _ Robin _ before she opened her eyes and saw Robin kneeling in front of her, forehead crinkled in that concerned little furrow that Alice found insanely adorable. It was the first time that Alice had ever seen Robin in full turnout gear before. The tan pants and jacket had bright yellow and silver highlighted strips for visibility. Robin peeled off her gloves and put her helmet to the side before she reached up and gently put her hands over Alice’s.

 

“What happened?” she asked, voice tight and concerned. Alice frowned. She didn’t like when Robin looked worried.

 

“Nothing. I bumped my head,” Alice told her. She couldn’t help leaning into the hand Robin put against her forehead even as she winced when Robin pulled the handkerchief away.

 

“You’re white as a sheet,” Robin argued.

 

“I don’t tan well.”

 

The hand on her forehead moved down to her cheek and Alice blinked her eyes open when she felt Robin lean in. She was just checking the cut on her head, nothing else. It didn’t mean her heart didn’t speed up. “You’re bleeding,” Robin said.

 

“It’s just a scratch,” Alice defended.

 

“You’re bleeding a lot.”

 

“It’s a big scratch?”

 

Robin sighed, and Alice felt the puff of warm air against her forehead. She leaned back on her heels but kept her hand on Alice’s cheek. “Look, I know you’re a bad patient,” she said, and the ghost of Alice’s favorite crooked smile appeared for a moment. “But I’m taking you to the hospital.”

 

“I don’t like hospitals,” Alice said with a hint of a whine.

 

Robin’s thumb started to brush back and forth along her cheek in a soothing, comforting kind of way. Alice wasn’t entirely sure she was doing it on purpose. Robin put the handkerchief, now stained bright red, back against her head and gently moved Alice’s hand to hold it again. “Stay right here, okay?” she said softly.

 

Alice gave the tiniest nod she could and even then her head throbbed with the motion. She very vaguely heard Ingrid promise to watch her.

 

“You know,” Ingrid said quietly, and when Alice peeked over at her she could see the hint of a smirk, “I was going to ask you if she was single, because I wasn’t joking about my niece, but now I don’t think it matters.”

 

“What?”

 

Robin was back nearly immediately with the now-familiar medical bag in hand. Ruby was trailing behind.

 

“Hey there, Jill,” Ruby teased. “You fall down and break your crown?”

 

“Jack was the one who broke his crown,” Alice said. “I think Jill just kind of fell after him.”

 

“Ruby is supposed to stay with the truck,” Robin said. “She wanted to come check in on you.”

 

“I’m fine, Rubes,” Alice said. Now that she was looking more clearly at Ruby the usual teasing glint was in her eyes, but it was offset by the worried downward tilt of her mouth. Alice sighed at herself. “Seriously, I’m fine.”

 

“You don’t look fine. It’s why I called Robin.”

 

Alice pouted. “Everyone is saying I look bad.”

 

She heard Robin chuckle and her heart lifted at the sound. “You’re beautiful. Can’t say I like the color red you’re wearing, though.”

 

“But I’m not wearing re – oh,” she scowled down at the handkerchief Robin had just handed her as she put gauze against her head instead. “The blood.”

 

“Yes, the blood.”

 

“Hey, Alice,” Ruby knelt down in front of her as Robin sat next to her and very carefully parted her hair to look at her head. “How do you feel?”

 

“Like I hit my head against a metal pipe.”

 

Ruby smirked and Robin chuckled again. “Okay, but do you feel dizzy or nauseous? Did you lose consciousness when you hit your head on the pipe?”

 

“Yes, yes, and no.” Alice winced when Robin probed very gently at the cut on her head. “Ow.”

 

“Sorry,” Robin apologized. “You’ve got a nice bump here too. That’s good.”

 

“That’s  _ good _ ?” Alice asked skeptically.

 

“It means the swelling is on the outside and not the inside,” Robin said. “So yeah, it’s good.” She put her hand under Alice’s elbow and gripped it firmly. “Can you stand up?”

 

“Probably?”

 

She stood up with Robin and the world tilted rapidly for a moment before righting itself. She leaned into Robin’s side and Robin let go of her elbow to wrap her arm around her waist instead. Ruby took two rapid steps forward and put her hands out but stopped when she saw Robin was steadying her.

 

The teasing glint completely disappeared, and Ruby frowned at her before looking over Alice’s shoulder at Robin. “I’m going to go get the bus,” she said.  

 

“The bus? What bus?” Alice tried to wrack her brain. “Isn’t that what you call the ambulance?” It clicked and she gasped. “Robin, no!”

 

“You need to go get checked out this time, Alice,” Robin said.

 

“You’re checking me out right now,” Alice argued.

 

Ruby, walking away, stutter-stepped and burst into laughter but kept walking. Alice was leaning too heavily into Robin to get a good look at her face, but she sounded weird when she answered, “You need a doctor to check your head.”

 

“Robin, I  _ really _ don’t like hospitals,” Alice said. “Do I…do I  _ have  _ to?”

 

Robin’s arm tightened around her waist. “I’m coming with you,” she said.

 

“I know you’re dropping me off but – ”

 

“I’m coming with you,” Robin repeated more firmly.

 

August had come out of the apartment building and was climbing into the truck, apparently taking over Ruby’s job as Ruby pulled up in the red and white ambulance Alice had seen them take out on jobs before. She honked once and then looked immediately apologetic when Alice winced and leaned her forehead against Robin’s shoulder. Robin steered her towards the doors at the back and Alice sighed when Ruby hopped out to open the doors for them.

 

“I’m very mad at you two,” Alice said.

 

“Ok, be mad while sitting on the stretcher.”

 

Alice complied, sitting and swinging her legs up onto the stretcher to lay back. Robin was smart enough not to try and buckle her in, probably because Alice was glaring at her. Well…glaring near her. Glaring at the approximate area of her. Her head throbbed if she tried to focus too clearly on something.

 

Robin sat on the chair bolted into the side of the ambulance as Ruby started the ambulance up with a rumble and pulled away from the curb. She didn’t use the sirens. Alice appreciated her for that.

 

“Why do you hate hospitals?” Robin asked quietly. She had her hand gently around Alice’s wrist, glancing at her watch as she took her pulse.

 

“No good reason,” Alice said. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting Robin lift her arm to check her blood pressure. “Nothing bad happened. They’re just cold, and they smell weird, and people are sad in them a lot.”

 

Robin hummed under her breath. “And you don’t like being stuck somewhere?” she guessed.

 

Alice cracked an eye open to peer at her. Robin was looking at her, leaning over with such a soft, gentle expression that Alice was glad she wasn’t still taking her pulse. Warmth flooded through her even as her head throbbed under the bright ambulance lights. “That too,” she admitted.

 

They sat in comfortable silence as Robin filled out some forms. Occasionally, she would stop writing to ask Alice questions: what exactly had happened, is she sure she didn’t lose consciousness, was she allergic to any medications, is there a possibility of pregnancy.

 

Alice snorted out a laugh at the last one – which made her head throb again – and Robin laughed along with her.

 

“Really?” they heard Ruby ask from the front.

 

“I was in a rhythm!” Robin defended herself.

 

Alice would be forever thankful that Robin and Ruby did not make a big production out of getting her into the hospital. Ruby pulled into the ambulance bay and they let her walk out of the ambulance, Ruby helping her as Robin handed her down the steps. They walked her into the back part of the emergency room and a nurse broke off from the round desk in the center to come over to them. She accepted the papers Robin had in her hands and led them quickly and quietly over to one of the open beds.

 

“Leroy called ahead,” she said as Alice sat down. “We got you set up.”

 

“Thanks, Nova,” Ruby said. The nurse winked at her.

 

“Leroy?” Alice asked, blinking fuzzily. “Like Grumpy, Leroy?”

 

Nurse Nova barked out a laugh even as Ruby and Robin looked sheepish. “Nova is Leroy’s wife,” Robin explained quickly.

 

“Oh,” Alice’s head throbbed again as all the blood left in it rushed to her cheeks. “Sorry! He’s lovely.”

 

“No, he’s grumpy,” Nova agreed. She waved the papers in her hand. “I’ll get this all set up and Alice, you just sit tight and look pretty.”

 

“Won’t be a problem,” Robin said.

 

Ruby had to excuse herself for some reason after that, and Alice swore she heard her cracking up as she walked back to the ambulance bay.

 

Apparently getting diagnosed with a concussion you were already pretty positive you had was a  _ process _ . Nurse Nova came around again to put an IV in her hand, for hydration and painkillers, and also to take her downstairs for a CT scan (which Alice  _ hated  _ – it was loud, the machine was cramped, and she wasn’t supposed to move the whole time). Then she brought Alice back upstairs and spent at least five minutes teasing Robin for hovering.

 

Alice kind of liked that she was hovering. She’d been in the ER a couple of times as a kid and once as an adult – the times as a kid were with annoyed foster parents who hadn’t wanted to have to go to the ER in the first place and the one as an adult she’d been alone. Her head was feeling much better since Nova had put the IV in but she was also loopier, so she couldn’t stop herself from staring at Robin.

 

Robin had removed her thick, heavy fire-resistant coat. That left her in her equally heavy work pants and a dark blue t-shirt with the firefighter shield over the left breast. The pants rode low on her hips and were held up by a pair of black suspenders. Alice licked her lips and let out a sigh that ended in a groan. Robin’s eyes immediately darted over to her and she sat down in the chair by the bed.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked, the little crinkle between her eyebrows showing up again when she frowned. “Those painkillers should be doing the trick.”

 

“Fine,” Alice answered a little breathlessly. Her hand lifted without permission from her brain to run her thumb across the forehead crinkle, smoothing it out with her touch. Robin blushed and Alice smiled. “You’re cute when you’re worried.”

 

Robin’s answering laugh sounded a little shaky. “Are you implying I’m not cute when I’m not worried?”

 

“No!” Alice said, eyes wide. Robin was cute all the time! She had to know that! She opened her mouth to say that and Robin put her hand over Alice’s and squeezed.

 

“I was joking,” she said, green eyes twinkling in a way that made Alice just want to stare into them – so she did, because nothing was stopping her. “Alice, I – ”

 

“Knock-knock,” a voice outside the curtain said. A young-ish man stuck his head in. He was wearing the long white lab coat of a doctor and he smiled when they looked at him. “Heard there was a possible concussion to check in on?”

 

He had short blonde hair and a kind of smarmy face, but he seemed nice enough as he checked the pupil dilation in Alice’s eyes, and asked her a few simple questions. These were all things Robin had already done but she wasn’t going to tell him that. That might make him feel bad.

 

“Seems like a pretty run of the mill concussion,” he said, putting his penlight back in his pocket. “CT scan looked clear, pupils are responsive, and you don’t have any cognitive impairment. You should try to rest your brain as much as possible for the next couple of days, don’t hit it again if you can help it, and come back if any of the symptoms worsen. I’ll write you a script for some painkillers and your girlfriend can take you home.”

 

The word  _ girlfriend  _ bounced around in Alice’s brain like a tennis ball, doing more damage than hitting the pipe under her sink ever could. Her reactions were so delayed she didn’t even have time to correct him before he had moved the curtain aside and walked away. Robin was blushing hard under the fluorescent lights and Alice immediately felt bad.

 

“Sorry,” she blurted out. “It’s probably because you stayed with me and – ”

 

“Alice,” Robin cut her off with a squeeze of her hand and a smile, even though her cheeks were still red. Alice didn’t even realize she hadn’t let go of her hand. “It’s fine. I’ve been called worse things than your girlfriend.” She winked at her and Alice gave her a small, strained smile.

 

He’d said that and Alice’s heart had wanted it so badly –  _ so badly  _ – to be the truth. Not just a misunderstanding about a worried friend who had stayed to make sure she was okay, but the honest to goodness truth. That at the end of the day Robin – her girlfriend Robin, and not her friend Robin – would bundle her home and tuck her into bed and stay with her to make sure she was okay. A little whine built up in the back of her throat at the intense wave of longing that washed over her. She wasn’t thinking too clearly, she knew. 

 

She’d have more of a handle on these thoughts in the morning when her head was clearer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liz, reading over this chapter: approximately how many concussions have you given yourself  
> Me: too many to be medically healthy


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keeping Alice from overworking her concussed brain is a challenge that Robin is up to facing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys APL is still being worked on, but here’s some more FFAU to tide you over!

Nova brought them some papers to sign, and the prescription that Alice very carefully put into her pocket, still only with one hand as Robin hadn’t let go of hers yet and Alice didn’t want to draw attention to it in case it made her let go.

 

“Naveen is here to drive you home,” Nova said. 

 

Honestly, Alice hadn’t even thought of what getting home was going to be like. The pain had noticeably lessened when she stood up slowly and carefully, although she’d been warned that it would come back as the painkillers wore off.

 

Naveen was leaning against a wall, texting happily on his phone in the waiting room when they walked out. He grinned up at them, eyes concerned as he looked Alice over.

 

“Everyone better?” he asked, pocketing his phone.

 

“I’m buying her a bubble,” Robin answered.

 

Alice made a noise of protest. “I don’t need a bubble,” she said with a sigh.

 

“It’ll be a perfectly nice bubble,” Robin assured her. “Might have to put sprinklers in it.”

 

Naveen laughed but thankfully they kept the teasing to a minimum as he drove them home. No – not home. To Alice’s apartment. They took the old, rickety elevator up the seven flights of stairs, since neither of the firefighters looked particularly impressed with her when she insisted she could walk up them to her apartment. She opened her door and stepped inside with a sarcastic little ta-da hand motion.

 

“Safe and sound,” she said, and then amended, “well, mostly sound.” She stared at them when Robin and Naveen followed her into the apartment and Robin put her jacket down. “What are you doing?”

 

Robin looked back at her, jaw set with a stubbornness Alice was starting to recognize. “I thought about having a seat on the couch once I got you settled on it.”

 

“The bedroom would be better,” Naveen suggested. “Head trauma. Rest is best!” He grimaced when they both looked at him. “What? It’s the actual phrase they teach you in the academy.”

 

“Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you should say it, Rana,” Robin said.

 

“But…” Alice paused, letting her sluggish brain catch up to what her friends were saying. “You’re staying?”

 

“You’re not staying alone after a head injury,” Robin insisted.

 

Alice tried to frown at them, but she had a feeling it came across more like a pout. “The CT scan said that I was clear?”

 

“Which of us is the medical professional?” Robin asked, full lips teasing up into a smirk.

 

Alice’s heart fluttered even as she fought to keep from rolling her eyes, knowing from the experience of the last couple of hours that it would cause her pain. “You,” she said.

 

Robin’s face softened as she leaned forward, resting her forearms against the back of one of Alice’s chairs at her kitchen counter. “I just want to make sure you’re okay,” she said.

 

“We don’t really need her down at the station anyway,” Naveen offered with a smirk.

 

“Hey,” Robin stood up straight and punched him in the bicep. He didn’t even flinch. Alice giggled.

 

“You really should have someone stay with you. Just for the night,” Naveen said. “And then tomorrow we’ll be able to keep an eye on you at movie night.”

 

Alice had to swallow around the sudden lump in her throat. She coughed a little into her hand and tried to blink away the prickling of tears at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you, guys,” she said, her voice a little croaky. “It means a lot to me…that you all care this much.”

 

She wasn’t expecting the hug that Robin pulled her into, but she melted into it, resting the unhurt part of her forehead against Robin’s shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her back. Robin rubbed little circles between her shoulder blades. “It’s what we’re here for,” she murmured into Alice’s ear.

 

Naveen put a hand on Alice’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re one of us, now,” he said. “Just try to get rid of us.”

 

Alice giggled. “Sorry,” she said, pulling out of Robin’s arms and wiping her eyes. “I think it’s just been a long night and it’s finally catching up with me.”

 

“Well, I leave you in capable hands,” Naveen said, giving her shoulder another quick squeeze and stepping way with an overdramatic bow to them. “You know where we are if you need us.” He pointed sternly at Robin. “Don’t let her near the kitchen. I don’t want to be called back here for a fire tonight.”

 

“Go!” Alice pushed against his shoulder. She couldn’t possibly have put enough force behind it to actually move Naveen but he acted like he was being shoved anyway. She sat down at the counter when the room swayed a little and Robin locked the door behind him. Alice put her head down on her arms and Robin smiled gently at her. It was only as she walked back over to the counter that she seemed to notice the mess Alice had left under the sink. 

 

“Is that what you were working on when the alarm went off?” she asked. 

 

“Yes,” Alice said miserably. “All I wanted to do was make it so my sink poured out water where it’s supposed to and not where it isn’t. That’s harder than it looks.” 

 

“I know.” Robin crouched down next to the sink to get a better look at the pipe underneath. “It was just my mom and I for my whole life. She only met my stepdad a couple of years ago. So anything that went wrong in the house we had to fix on our own or pay someone to.” She reached underneath and pulled at something with a grunt. “We never wanted to pay someone to.” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“Pride,” Robin gave her a sheepish grin over her shoulder, dimples flashing, and her world spun again, but this time it wasn’t because of her concussion. “Our family has a bit of a pride problem.” 

 

“Remind me to introduce you to my best friend,” Alice said. “His family’s the same way.” 

 

Robin sat back on her heels and waved her hand at the sink. “I can fix this,” she said. 

 

“You’re not fixing my sink after you took me to the hospital, that’s ridiculous,” Alice argued. 

 

“Oh, I’m doing it.” Robin pulled her suspenders until they dropped off her shoulders and Alice nearly stopped breathing when she grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled that off. She was wearing a white tank-top underneath but that didn’t do anything to calm the way Alice’s heart had nearly exploded.

“Ok,” Alice squeaked out. She tried to look normal when Robin gave her a curious glance.

 

Robin lowered herself onto the kitchen floor and shuffled until her head and shoulders were under the sink. This was good if she wanted to fix the sink. This was bad for Alice, who now had a completely unobstructed view of Robin’s body and the ability to now stare at her without a chance of being caught. She had a black sports bra under her white tank-top, the latter of which rode up a little when she shifted her arms around to lift the wrench. A delicious sliver of abs presented themselves, just enough to spot definition that made Alice nearly bite through her tongue. 

 

“You all right?” Robin asked, voice muffled. “You just made a weird noise.” 

 

Alice had never been less all right in her entire life, but she still hummed an affirmative. “Head’s just pounding a bit is all.” 

 

“You can take more pain medicine,” Robin’s voice trailed off and Alice heard a huff of air and a squeak of metal as she twisted something. “You shouldn’t do it on an empty stomach though.” 

 

A thought occurred to Alice that immediately mortified her. “Have you eaten yet?” she asked. 

 

“I’m fine,” Robin said. “I was talking about you.” 

 

“And I’m asking you. Are you hungry?” 

 

“I could eat.” 

 

Alice got up carefully to shuffle through the takeout menus in the basket by her door. “Do you have a preference?” 

 

“No, I’m not picky,” Robin said. Her voice sounded a little strained but Alice assumed that was just from working under the sink. 

 

Feeling fuzzy and a little nostalgic, Alice grabbed the menu for the bar and grill that Robin and Naveen had first sent her food from. She placed the order on her phone after Robin rattled off her order, not budging an inch on paying for it even through Robin’s muffled protests. She set her phone down and just sat there resting her head against her arms and listening to Robin adorably talk to herself as she walked herself through fixing her sink. Fifteen minutes in she heard a yelp.

 

“What?” Alice jumped forward on instinct and then had to grab the edge of the counter as the movement tilted her world on an axis for a moment. 

 

“Nothing!” Robin scrambled out from underneath the sink. “Managed to fix it with only one casualty.” She pulled at the front of her shirt, which had been sprayed by water when she fixed the pipe, and sighed.

 

Alice’s brain completely shut down. She was pretty sure she was going to pass out, but at least could blame the concussion if it happened. The water had made the tank-top completely see-through and it clung to Robin like a jealous lover. The tiny bit of abs that she had seen earlier were now fully visible, and the black sports bra was now the focal point of the outfit, cupping and highlighting her breasts in a way that made Alice’s eyes nearly fall out. Robin was at this point essentially shirtless in her kitchen and the fire station was going to get another call, because Alice was about to spontaneously combust. 

 

“Sorry!” she blurted out. “Let me get you a shirt.” 

 

She nearly ran down her hallway before Robin could stop her. Halfway through she put her hand on the wall to steady herself, both from the concussion and the constantly replaying visual of Robin in a wet tank-top in her kitchen. The first thing she grabbed off the pile of clothes on her chair was the heather-grey borrowed firefighter shirt, which she brought back out into the kitchen and practically shoved at Robin’s torso. 

 

“I was going to wash it and give it back to you,” Alice rambled, “and then I washed it, but then I wore it again because it’s so soft and comfy, so I slept in it the other night, so now it’s dirty again…and I just realized that as I was saying it. Do you want me to get you another shirt?” 

 

Robin took the shirt from her, their fingers brushing as she did so, and Alice dropped her hand immediately. “You just slept in it,” Robin said with a tiny shrug, smiling Alice’s favorite crooked smile. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’m willing to put on on day four of my shift when a call comes in…” 

 

Thankfully for Alice’s continued state of living Robin walked into the bathroom to change her shirt. She had her head ducked down into the collar when she came back out but tugged it down when she saw Alice looking at her. 

 

“I’m going to make some coffee” Alice said, to stop herself from blurting out something stupid like ‘that shirt looks good on you but better on the floor’. “Do you want some?” she offered while already moving towards the coffee pot. She stopped only when Robin gently grabbed the back of her shirt. 

 

“Nope,” she said, tugging Alice back. “No coffee for me or for you.” 

 

Alice whined but didn’t fight being pulled back. “Why?” she asked. 

 

“Caffeine and pain medication don’t mix.” She tilted her head towards the sink. “Try it out now.” 

 

Alice walked over to her sink and twisted the tap. Without banging, clanging, or flooding, the faucet turned on. Robin looked very pleased with herself. It made Alice want to kiss the smug smirk off her face. 

 

Instead, her mouth opened and what fell out was, “You fight fires  _ and  _ fix things? I should just marry you and be set for life.”

 

Robin blushed, and before Alice could melt into the floor in embarrassment, where she would stay for eternity without ever interacting with another human being again, there was a knock at her door. Robin cleared her throat. 

 

“Got it,” Robin said, moving quickly over to the door. “Hello?” 

 

“Delivery from Roni’s,” said the bored, monotone voice of the teenaged delivery boy from the bar and grill.  “Hey wait, I know you. Isn’t this pretty blonde girl’s place?” She heard his voice go above a monotone for the first time ever. “Oh, are you two dating?” He poked his head over the threshold and waved at Alice. “Hi pretty blonde girl.” 

 

Robin huffed and grabbed the bag from him. “We’re not dating,” she snapped, and Alice’s heart fell into her shoes. 

 

Wait, no - she shouldn't be disappointed. She  _ knew  _ they weren’t dating. Robin was one of her best friends. Just because Robin was here, fixing things for her, answering her door, keeping an eye on her. Those were friend things they were doing. Her concussed brain rattling around just made her want them to be more a little more keenly than usual. 

 

“But didn’t you order her food before?” now-distinctly-not-monotone teenager asked as Robin handed him a tip and firmly urged him back out the door. “You know I have to climb up seven flights of stairs every time you do that.” 

 

“Goodbye, kid,” Robin said. She closed the door sharply behind him. She walked over to the counter and deposited the bag with an overly cheerful smile. “Food!” she announced. 

 

Alice handed over a fork as Robin dug through the bag for their containers. “You know that was the start of this whole thing, right?” 

 

“Hmmm?” Robin hummed while she nearly stuck her head into the top of the bag looking for something. She pulled Alice’s marmalade sandwich out with a triumphant little noise that was downright adorable. 

 

“You guys getting me food that night,” Alice said, accepting the sandwich with a smile. “Grumpy delivery kid. Dinner from Roni’s. That was the start of our whole friendship.” 

 

Robin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe I should have given him a bigger tip.” 

 

* * *

Robin, it turned out, was a force to be reckoned with when it came to making sure Alice wasn’t stressing herself out.

 

“You concussed your  _ brain _ ,” Robin said, standing in the middle of Alice’s living room with her arms crossed, arguing why Alice shouldn’t put on Netflix. “You’ve got to let it rest.” 

 

“This is resting. Ever heard of Netflix and chill?” Alice argued, crossing her arms right back. She was sitting on the couch looking up so that she didn’t have to admit the room was still spinning every once in a while. After they’d eaten dinner Alice had taken more pain medicine, which had helped stop her head from hurting so much but had made it  _ way  _ fuzzier. 

 

“Yes. That’s not resting either, though.” Was Robin blushing? 

 

“Then what do you suggest I do?” 

 

“Sleep,” Robin said sternly. 

 

“I don’t want to,” Alice uncrossed her arms and leaned stubbornly back onto the couch. “I’m too worked up still.” She was so tired she’d moved past actually being tired, and now she felt keyed up. 

 

Robin’s shoulders relaxed. She uncrossed her arms too. “Okay,” she said. “But TV will still overstimulate your brain.” 

 

“You overstimulate my brain,” Alice muttered. 

 

“What?” 

 

“What?” Alice blushed and squinted her eyes at Robin, trying to figure out if she’d heard her or not. “Nothing, I’m concussed. Don’t listen to me.” 

 

Robin sighed and stepped around Alice’s coffee table to sit on the couch next to her. She put her feet up and Alice giggled. She’d borrowed a pair of Alice’s sweatpants to sleep in and she was a few inches taller than Alice, which meant the bottoms of the sweatpants kept riding up her ankles. She lifted her arm up and waved her hand towards Alice. “Come here,” she said. 

 

Alice blinked at her. She was very concussed, and pretty high on pain meds at this point, but it  _ looked  _ like Robin was inviting her for cuddles. If she was, Alice wasn’t going to say no. She liked cuddles. She liked Robin cuddles best. 

 

She scooted forward and let Robin wrap her arm around her shoulders and pull her in the rest of the way. She sagged heavily into Robin’s side with a happy sigh. When she settled her head against Robin’s chest her eyes landed on the book on her coffee table. 

 

“Is reading going to overstimulate my brain?” she asked. 

 

“It might,” Robin answered. Her voice sounded deeper and calmer now that Alice was leaning into her. The arm she had wrapped around Alice felt heavy and warm, and Alice could hear her heart beating underneath her cheek, and she found her body relaxing in spite of itself. While her body relaxed her traitorous brain supplied the information that she was essentially nestled against Robin’s boobs.

 

“What if you read to me?” Alice asked. Her fuzzy brain, now fuzzier as it fought between exhaustion and hyperactivity, for once in her life had a good idea. 

 

“Sure. Why don’t you lay down?” 

 

“Okay,” Alice leaned forward to grab the book off the table and Robin’s arm fell away from her. When she leaned back she stretched her legs and torso out onto the couch so she could plop her head right in Robin’s lap. 

 

Robin seemed to freeze. Her hand fluttered for a moment, lighting like a bird on Alice’s shoulder and back before it landed on the side of her head. Alice felt her fingers start to run gently through her hair, careful to avoid the bump there. It was so relaxing Alice was no longer worried about being able to go to sleep. 

 

“Through the Looking Glass, huh?” Robin said. Alice was cuddled so close in her lap, with her head pressed into her stomach, she felt the words more than she heard them. “Catching up with the other Alice?” 

 

“She has better adventures than I do,” Alice said sleepily. 

 

Robin laughed quietly. “I doubt that.” Alice heard the sound of pages being turned as Robin, one-handed, stumbled to where she’d left her bookmark. “‘O Tiger-lily,’ said Alice,” Robin began. She tapped lightly on Alice’s cheek at the name drop and it made her smile and nuzzle her face into Robin’s lap. Robin’s voice stuttered a little on the next line. “Ad-addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, ‘I wish you could talk!’. ‘We can talk,’ said the Tiger-lily: ‘when there’s anybody worth talking to.’” 

 

She continued on like that, voice low and soothing, hand running gently through Alice’s hair and sometimes along her shoulder before coming back up. She fell asleep like that, with Robin’s hand in her hair and her voice in her ears. 


End file.
